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PRINTED BY RITCHIE, DUXNAVAXT & CO. 
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SPECIAL REPORT 



OF THE 



SUPERINTENDENT - 



OF THE 



VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, 



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SCIEffflFlC EDUCATION IN EUROP 



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RICHMOND, VA. 

PRINTED BY RITCHIE, DUNNAVANT & CO. 
1859. 



LETTER OF COL. COCKE. 



^ 



BELMEAD, February 1859. 

To His Excellency Henry A. Wise, 

Governor of Virginia. 

Sir, 

By order of the board of visitors of the Virginia 
military institute, I have the honor to communicate herewith a re- 
port of more than usual interest, from the superintendent. 

The board of visitors were induced to grant a leave of absence, 
during the last year, to Col. Smith, the superintendent, to enable 
him to travel in Europe, for the double purpose of recruiting his 
health and strength, materially impaired by protracted official labors, 
and of examining the various institutions of learning as well as the 
systems of education in Europe, with the view of enabling the 
board, in co-operation with the enlightened observation and extended 
experience of the superintendent, to give such direction and develop- 
ment to the system of education peculiar to the institute, as should 
best adapt that system to the growing wants and requirements of 
the times and of the country, and thereby insure, as the results of 
it, the highest degree of efficiency and of public usefulness. 

Col. Smith also bore with him to Europe, and in this connection, 
credentials from your excellency, of his official position and public 
mission. 

Col. Smith visited the universities of Oxford and of Cambridge in 
England, besides many secondary educational institutions in Great 
Britain. 

At Paris, he examined the polytechnic school, and through the 
special influence of our minister to France, he obtained what is but 



^ 



rarely granted to foreigners, access to the great military school at 
St. Oyr. 

In Germany and Italy, numerous military, agricultural and other 
schools were visited, the organizations and systems of which were 
carefully examined. 

The experience of the superintendent, as the head of one of the 
principal institutions of learning in our state, and his recent obser- 
vations of European systems of education, constitute the foundation 
and furnish the interesting materials of the present report. 

The author of the report recognizes the fact of the growing want, 
both in Europe and in this country, of a system of education diffe- 
rent from that which grew up under monastic and ecclesiastical in- 
fluences, upon the revival of learning in Europe, and which, from 
that time to this, has given form and direction to collegiate and uni- 
versity education both in England and America. 

Physical science, with its applications to the arts, has come to 
change the face of society and the world. The Newtons, the 
Franklins, the Davys, the Wattses, the Whitneys, the Fultons and 
the Morses have come to seize and wield the hitherto secret laws and 
unknown powers of nature, and to become derai-gods of knowledge, 
of power and of progress. 

In England, this progress of physical science and of the arts has 
caused to arise by the side of the landed aristocracy and that of the 
established church, an aristocracy of commerce and of manufac- 
tures, whilst in America, the members of what are called the learned 
professions find themselves surrounded by an ever growing and in- 
fluential class of agriculturists, of merchants and of manufacturers. 

In England, the church and the landed aristocracy have built up 
and supported the universities of Oxford and of Cambridge; and 
in this country, the influence of the learned professions has modeled 
our colleges and universities after those two great English proto- 
types. But neither in this country nor in England has any adequate 
provision been made for the thorough and special education of the 
agriculturist, the merchant, the manufacturer, the engineer, or the 



artist. These classes now loudly demand in both countries the es- 
tablishment of institutions of learning, in which the mathematics 
and the physical sciences shall be thoroughly taught, together with 
their applications to the useful arts — so that whilst the universities 
shall be left to fill the sphere appropriate to them, the polytechnic 
schools may educate the future astronomer, the chemist, the soldier, 
the navigator, the agriculturist, the engineer, the merchant, the 
manufacturer, and the artist. 

The course of instruction in the Virginia military institute being 
mainly mathematical and physico-scientific, may be readily extended 
and developed so as to comprehend the full course of a great poly- 
technic school, in which science would find its application to all 
the useful arts. 

With our Virginia university occupying as it does the highest 
position amongst the collegiate institutions of the country, and 
our military institute developed into a polytechnic school of the 
highest order, the educational institutions of our state would be 
rendered pre-eminently comprehensive and controlling. 

Commending the report, sir, to your favorable consideration, 

I remain, very respectfully. 

Your most obedient, 

PHILIP ST. GEO. COCKE, 

Pres. Board Visitors, V. M. I. 



ORDER OF BOARD OF VISITORS. 



At a meeting of the board of visitors of the military institute of 
the state of Virginia, held at the capitol in the city of Richmond, 
on Monday the 8th day of April 1858 : 

The president called the attention of the board to the fact, that 
Col. Francis H. Smith, superintendent of the institute, is about to 
visit Europe, with the full assent and approbation of the board : 
whereupon, 

Resolved, that Colonel Smith be and he is hereby authorized and 
requested to visit the various seminaries of learning and other insti- 
tutions of education in Europe, with a view to ascertain the opera- 
tions and success of the various systems of education which exist 
there, and to enquire into the interests which are covered in the 
operations of the military institute of the state of Virginia — and 
that he report to this board, through the president, from time to 
time, if he shall deem it necessary, such information as he may ob- 
tain, or fully and finally, upon his return home. 

And the board cordially tender to Col. Smith the expression of 
its esteem and confidence, with their best wishes for a prosperous 
voyage and safe return. 

Signed on behalf of the board of visitors. 

JAMES L. KEMPER, 

Pres. B. of V., V. M. L 

The above is a true copy from the minutes of the board of visitors. 

R. H. CATLETT, 

Sec, B. V. 



LETTER OF GOV. WISE. 



It is liereb}^ certified, that Col. Francis H. Smith, the bearer of 
this credential, is superintendent of the Virginia military institute; 
that James L. Kemper is president, and R. H. Catlett is secretary 
of the board of visitors of that institute, and that tiie foregoing ab- 
stract is duly certified, aird that Col. Smith is duly authorized and 
requested as the said certificate purports. And the secretary of 
state of the United States is hereby requested to certify the seal of 
the state of Virginia, hereto annexed, to all foreign governments 
and people ; and the ministers, charges, consuls and commercial 
agents of the United States abroad, and all persons whomsoever, are 
hereby requested to give full faith and credit to Col. Francis H. 
Smith, in his character of superintendent and agent hereby attested. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand as governor 
of the commonwealth of Virginia, and caused the seal of the state 
to be affixed this 19th day of April A. D. 1S58. 



Signed 



HENRY A. WISE. 



RE PORT. 



VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, 
February 1859. 
Col. Philip St. Geo. Cocke, 

Pres. B^d VisUors, V. M. Institute. 
Sir, 

Availing myself of the kind indulgence of the board of 
visitors, I transferred the duties of my office to the senior professor, 
Major J. T. L. Preston, on the 1st of June last, and sailed for Eu- 
rope in the steamer Africa, on the 9th of the same month. After 
spending six months abroad, I returned and resumed my duties on 
the 20th of December last. 

In obedience to the instructions of the board of visitors, I beg 
leave to lay before you a special report, founded upon the results of 
my observations while abroad. 

Besides the credentials contained in the resolutions of the board, 
I was honored by a special authentication of my official relations to 
the interests of the state, from His Excellency Henry A. Wise, go- 
vernor of Virginia, which I found of great service to me, and for 
which I am under great obligations to him. These testimonials 
were most kindly received by the United States ministers and con- 
suls abroad ; and I would particularly acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to His Excellency Geo. M. Dallas, U. S. minister at London ; 
His Excellency John Y. Mason, U. S. minister at Paris; His Excel- 
lency J. A. Wright, U. S. minister at Berlin, and His Excellency 
John M. Daniel, U. S. minister at Turin ; and also to Bcverhj Tucker, 
Esq., U. S. consul at Liverpool, and E. C. Stiles, Esq., U. S. consul at 
Vienna. From each of these gentlemen I received every attention ; 
and but for their personal and official kindness, I should have failed 
in much that I hope to make serviceable to the general interests of 
this institution. 



12 

Judge Mason was unwilling to put my credentials upon tlie foot- 
ing of mere formal letters of recommendation in my application for 
admission into the' military schools oL France. lie insisted upon 
taking me in person to the minister of war; and by his kind inter- 
position, I received at once, from Alarshal Vaillanl, letters of autho- 
rity to visit the polytechnic school at Paris, the general military 
school at St. Cyr, and the artillery and engineer school of applica- 
tion at ]\[etz. 

It vv'as not possible for me, in the brief time allotted to my trip, 
to make more than a cursory survey of those interests, which are 
embraced within the operations of this institution. Extending as 
my tour did througli England, Scotland and Ireland, France, Bel- 
gium, the German states, including Prussia, Austria, Bavaria and 
Wurtemburg, as well as Switzerland and Italy, I was necessarily 
limited to an examination of some only of the chief establishments 
of Europe; and even with regard to these, must refer, for much of 
my details, to the official reports and other documents which I have 
been able to obtain with reference to them. 

In England, I visited Oxford university (then in recess), Cam- 
bridge university and the njilitary school at Addiscombe ; in France, 
the polytechnic school, the military school at St. Cyr, and the con- 
xcn/itohe Jcs a/Is et metiers ; in Prussia, the military stables at Berlin; 
in Wurtemburg, the celebrated agricultural school at Hohenheim ; 
and in Sardinia, the military school at Turin. In each of these es- 
tablishments I was received with the most marked courtesy, every 
facility having been afforded me for a careful examination of every 
thing that would be of interest to me in my enquiries. I would 
desire specially to acknowledge my indebtedness to Major General 
Sir Frederick Abbott, K. C. B., commandant of the military school 
at Addiscombe; General Eble, commandant, and Colonel Rlffault, di- 
rector of studies of the polytechnic school ; General Count dc Mojinet, 
commandant of the military school at St. Cyr; Prince Radziivill of 
the Prussian artillery at Berlin, and General Fettincngo, commandant 
of the military school at Turin. 

I reserve for a subsequent part of this report a reference to the 
universities of Oxford and Cambridge, desiring to direct special at- 
tention to a movement now in progress, in the modification of the 



13 

educational system of Great Britain, in which these renowned insti- 
tutions are bearing a leading part. As these modifications have a 
most intimate connection with the past operations and. future de- 
velopment of this institution, I shall deem it proper to dwell with 
some particularity upon the causes and results of this movement, 
believing that a correct view of them will be of immense value to 
those who may be charged with the direction of this institution. 

The militarij school at Addiscombe belonged until recently to the 
East India company, and was designed to supply officers for the 
military service of that company in India. Under its existing or- 
ganization, it is rendering to her majesty's government in India the 
service formerly discharged for the East India company. It num- 
bers about 150 cadets, who are admitted without competition, upon 
nomination, and who serve two years. Those designed for the en- 
gineer service are transferred, on the completion of their course at 
Addiscombe, to the royal engineer establishment at Chatham, for 
practical instruction in engineering, where they remain 18 months. 
Those who enter the artillery or infantry services, pass at once into 
the public service in India, with a rank as lieutenants, corresponding 
with their respective class grades. I was very much struck with 
the sand models connected with the course of engineering in this 
school. Models in engineering as well as in all practical sciences, 
are of great value to the right conception of the application of the 
principles taught, and their general use has been much restricted by 
the great expense of those usually made in wood or plaster. The pro- 
fessor of engineering at Addiscombe uses common sand, with great 
advantage, for all models required in his department, and by its ad- 
hesive property when slightly moistened with water, all the neces- 
sary models can be readily made from designs prepared by the pro- 
fessor. I saw, in the model room, models of three different plans of 
forts used in India, which were as perfect as if made with the best 
cement, and which had been formed by a common soldier in a few 
days' labor. Forty loads of sand had served for these uses for a 
period of 15 years, without perceptible diminution from wastage. 

The English military schools are also devoting much attention to 
the art of iihoiographtj. The engineering drawings required for the 
military and civil services of so extensive an empire, involve great 
labor and expense, and it has been found that the photographic art 



14 

may be most readily applied in most of those drawings which re- 
quire so much repetition, and thus copies to an indefinite extent, of 
plans of forts, buildings, &c. may be multiplied, at comparatively 
small expense of time or labor. The cadets at the military school 
at Addiscombe are taught this useful art. 

The 2'olijtcchnic school at Paris {VEcolc imperiale polytechjiiqiie), 
known at first under the name of Central school of imUlc ivorks {Ecole 
centrale ties travaux publies), was established in 1794. 

By a decree of the French convention of 11th March 1794, a 
commission was appointed for the purpose of establishing a central 
school of public works. The decree specified 22 of the principal 
cities of France as centres of examination, at which candidates for 
admission were to report themselves, and furnish proofs of their 
qualifications, by examination in arithmetic, algebra and geometry; 
and tlie school was opened on the 21st of December 1794. Under 
this organization, the course of studies was divided into two princi- 
pal branches, viz : Maihcmatlcs and yhijslcal sciences, the first division 
embracing analysis, with its applications to geometry and mechanics, 
and descriptive geometry, including architecture, fortification and 
drawing — while under the head o^ physics, were embraced general 
physics and chemistry. Thus organized, the school was conducted 
until the 1st September 1795, when, by a new decree, its name was 
changed to that of Ecole poly technique. This new organization dif- 
fered but little from the first, and simply determined the mode of 
admission of its eleves into the public services. 

By a law of 22d October 1795 schools of application were estab- 
lished, the course of study in the polytechnic school was limited to 
two years, and its relations to the special schools of application de- 
fined. To accommodate the school to these new relations, a re- 
organization was made IGth December 1799, by which important 
changes were made in the classification of studies, and a board of 
improvement {conseil de perfcction7icment) established; and finally, by 
a decree of IGth July 1804, the military organization of the school 
was fully effected. 

" The origin of the polytechnic school [I quote from the report 
of the commissioners appointed by the British government to con- 



15 

sider the best mode of training officers for scientific corps] dates 
from a period of disorder and distress in the history of France, 
which seem alien to all intellectual pursuits, if we did not remem- 
ber that the general stimulus of a revolutionary period often acts 
powerfully upon thought and education. * * * * Jt was in- 
tended at first to give a complete education for some of the public 
services, but it was soon changed into a preparatory school, to be 
succeeded by special schools of application. 

" When the school was first started, there was scarcely another of 
any description in the country. * * * ^i[ schools from the 
university downwards, were destroyed ; the large exhibitions or 
bourses, numbering nearly 40,000, were confiscated or plundered by 
individuals, and even the military schools and those for public 
works (which were absolutely necessary for the very roads and the 
defence of the country), were suppressed or disorganized. The 
school of engineers at Meziores (an excellent one, where Monge had 
been a professor), and that of the artillery at La Fere, were both 
broken up, whilst the murder of Lavoisier, and the well known 
saying with respect to it, that the republic had no need of chemists, 
gave currency to a belief, which Fourcroy expressed in proposing 
the polytechnic, that the late conspirators had formed a deliberate 
plan to destroy the arts and sciences, and to establish their tyranny 
on the ruins of human reason. 

" Thus it was on the ruin of all the old teaching, that the new in- 
stitution was erected — a truly revolutionary school, as its founders 
delighted to call it, using the term as it was commonly used, as a 
synonym for all that was excellent. And then for the first time 
avowing the principle of public competition, its founders, Mongc and 
Fourcroy, began their work with an energy and enthusiasm which 
they seem to have left as a traditional inheritance to their school. 
It is curious to see the difficulties which the bankruptcy of the 
country threw in their way, and the vigor with which, assisted by 
the summary powers of the republican government, they overcame 
them. They begged the old Palais Bourbon for their building — 
were supplied with pictures from the Louvre — the fortunate capture 
of an English ship gave them some uncut diamonds for their first 
experiments — presents of military instruments were sent from the 
arsenals of Havre — and even the hospitals contributed some chemi- 



16 

cal substances. In fine, having set tlieir school in motion, the go- 
vernment and its professors worked at it with such zeal and effect, 
that within five months after tlieir project was announced, they had 
held their first entrance examination, open to the competition of all 
France, and started with 379 pupils." 

The polytechnic school thus came into being a "revolutionary 
school." Its subsequent career was unprecedented. Its hii^h repu- 
tation was built up by the unwearied labors of men, whose names 
are as household words wherever science has a votary. ' La Grange, 
Lacroix and Poisson laid the basis of its course of analytical mathe- 
matics ; La Place, Labeij, Proncy, Francceur and Ampere, that of 
analytical mechanics and astronomy. Descriptive geometry and its 
applications had for their first teachers the illustrious founder of 
the science, Gaspard Monge, and his pupils, Hachelte and Arago. 
Chemistry and mineralogy were taught by the great masters, Ber- 
thollet, Fovrcroy, Gaij-Lussac and Thenard ; while fortification, archi- 
tecture and public works were entrusted to Guy-Vcrno7i, Durand 
and Sgnvzin. 

To these great masters was added a corps of rcpctitairs (repeaters 
of lectures, or assistant professors), chosen from the most distin- 
guished of its pupils, among whom we find the distinguished name 
of M. Biol. It was my high privilege to have several interviews 
with this nestor of science, in his rooms at the College dc Frniice; 
and it was with sadness he referred to the great changes which the 
revolutionary struggles of his country had brought upon the cha- 
racter of the institution ; adding, " the polytechnic school is not now 
what it once ivas." True, its great masters had passed away. It had 
no longer the ardent enthusiasm of a Monge and Fourcroy, of Ber- 
thollet and La Place and La Grange, but the traditional lustre of 
their great names still shed light over the school which their genius 
and labors had built up. True, disputes had arisen between the 
exclusive study of abstract science on the one hand, and their early 
application on the otiicr, which legislative authority had attempted 
to solve by an accommodation to the spirit of Young France ; but 
the traditional teaching of the school will be too strong for legisla 
tive interference; and " early and deep scientific study" will carry 
off the victory against early practical applications," so that the opi- 
nion of the English commission is distinctly given in pronouncing 



17 

the polytechnic school at this time, ^^ perhaps without exaggeration, the 
greatest mathematical school in the worlds 

With such illustrious men to conduct the educational development 
of the polytechnic school, sustained as they were by the genius, 
wisdom and authority of Napoleon I, it was to be expected that it 
would exercise a commanding influence in the progress of scientific 
education throughout Europe, and in the organization of those spe- 
cial schools which have added so much to the power of the French 
nation. And such has been the result. No intelligent traveler can 
visit Europe, without seeing the impress of the polytechnic school 
upon the progress of education, in all the forms of its development. 
And when the American contrasts the character of education in 
his own country, at the beginning of the war of 1812, with that at 
present, he will not fail to recognize the important agency of the 
U. S. mililarij acadcimj at West Point, itself a germ from the poly- 
technic school, with one of the polytechnic eleves (Claude Crozet) 
as one of its earliest professors, not only in the specific work of 
preparing officers for the military defences of the country, but in 
elevating the character and grade of its scientific education. Nay 
more — may we not trace in the history of tiie Virginia militarrj in- 
stitute, itself an offshoot from the West Point academy, a still further 
development of a system of education, originating in the troubles 
of a revolution, which, in its weariness of every thing then existing, 
threw off the restraints of the scholastic teaching, and gave birth to 
the polytechnic school ? 

Still, it would be absurd to trace such astonishing results to the 
influence of any one institution, however renowned the men charged 
with its teachings, or mighty the authority brought to their aid in 
its operations. There must have been a ivant existing, whether felt 
or not, for the class of education which the polytechnic school first 
met and supplied. How could the education which was originally 
designed for the ecclesiastic, and which was made by the system of 
the schools the education of all, meet the wants of a great nation 
in the development of its resources, the application of its material, 
the adaptation of machinery, the success of its manufactures, the pro- 
gress of the arts, or the success of its trade? The education which 
had been provided was actually worthless to most of those who held 
the wealth and directed the destinies of the nation. And thus, 
3 



18 

just in proportion to the adaptation of the system of education to 
meet the demands of the age, must be the influence which it will 
exert in the promotion of sound learning in the world. That this 
requirement was fulfilled in the establishment of the polytechnic 
and other special schools connected with it, there can be no rational 
doubt. This has long since been admitted throughout the continent 
of Europe. It is about to have a remarkable confirmation in the 
judgment of the great educational establishments of England, as I 
will more fully show in the sequel of this report'; and I call atten- 
tion to this point here, because it illustrates and confirms an impor- 
tant principle which has marked the history and seems to fix the 
destiny of the Virginia military institute. 

The immediate and pressing wants which led to the establish- 
ment of the polytechnic school, controlled also its plan. It was 
partly military and partly civil, for military as well as civil educa- 
tion had been destroyed by the revolutionists. At first it only in- 
cluded those who were designed for the engineer service, but the 
artillery service was added within a year. The preparation which 
it gave for the military service, was in its thorough scientific ra- 
ther than. its practical training; and those of its eleves who are 
destined for the army, are transferred to the practical school for 
engineers and artillery at Metz. For many years past, it has been 
more a civil than a military school, its best pupils selecting the 
civil in preference to the military services, because they open wider 
fields for distinction and advancement. To such an extent have 
the civil departments monopolized the best talent of the school, 
that the directors of tlK3 school at Metz have complained that the 
material sent to that institution, constituted as it is of the lowest 
members of the classes of the polytechnic, is not qualified, by talent 
or preparation, for those arms of the service provided for at Metz. 
These remonstrances have not operated to remove from the poly- 
technic students the free choice which they continue to give for 
the civil services. 

It will thus be seen, that the polytechnic is a preparatory and 
general scientific school, in which the studies are not exclusively 
adapted for any one of the departments to which, at the close of its 
course, its scholars will find themselves assigned. Before entering 
upon the actual discharge of their specific duties, they pass through 



19 

a further term of instruction in some one of the schools of appli- 
cation specially devoted to particular professions. 

The public services for which it thus gives a general preparation, 
are the following, in the order of their selection by the preference 
of the eleves : 

The department of roads and bridges (ponts et chaussees). 

The department of mines (mines). 

The department of powder and saltpetre (poudres et salpetre). 

Naval architects (genie maritime). 

Engineers (genie militaire). 

The artillery (artillerie de terre). 

Staff corps (etat major). 

The hydrographical corps (ingenieurs hydrographiques). 

The department of tobacco (administration des tabacs). 

The department of telegraph (lignes telegraphiques). 

Navy (marine). 

Marine artillery (artillerie de mer). 

And finally, to all other departments vv^hich involve a knowledge 
of mathematics, physics or chemistry. 

The course of study at the polytechnic embraces two years, and 
the institution is open to all Frenchmen by competition. It usually 
numbers about 400 students, about one-third of whom pass out each 
year to the various schools of application. Besides a full corps of 
professors, the lectures given by these are carefully drilled into the 
pupils by the reyeUteurs, who pass through the halls of study (salles 
d' etude), ask questions, repeat the lectures when necessary, and 
give such additional instruction as may be required ; so that the 
fullest scope is given to the genius and diligence of the pupil on 
the one hand, and facility for necessary aid from the instructors, on 
the other. This care in instruction involves the expense of a large 
corps of professors and assistant professors, but the advantages re- 
sulting from it fully compensate for the expense attending it. And 
if the distinguished career of its eleves be a fair test of the value 
. of its system of instruction, few institutions in the world can pre- 



2* 

sent a fairer record in the same space of time than the polytechnic 
school. 

Among those who have been most distinguished, I note the fol- 
lowing: 

Arago, savan, professor at the school. 

Bachasson de Montalivet, minister of interior. 

De Barante, ambassador. 

Bernard, minister of war. 

Biot, savan, professor College de France. 

Binet, professor at College de France. 

Bourdon, inspector general of university. 

Cauchy, professor at the school. 

Cavaignac, minister of war. 

Chasles, professor at the school. 

Chevalier, professor at College de France. 

Comte, repetiteur at the school. 

Delauny, professor at the school. 

Doalat de Pontecoulant. 

Ducos de la Hette, minister of foreign affairs. 

Dulong, professor at the school. 

Duhamel, professor at the school. 

Dupin, professor at the school, and minister of mariDe. 

Francoeur, professor in faculty of sciences. 

Gay-Lussac, professor at the school. 

Le Chevalier, professor at the school. 

Le Verrier, member of the institute. 

Lionville, professor at the school. 

Malus, member of the institute. 

Mathieu, professor at the school. 

Poinsot, professor at the school. 

Poesson, professor at the school. 

Poncelet, commandant of the school. 

Regnault, professor at the school. 

Vaillant, minister of war and marshal of France. 



21 

I close my notice of the polytechnic school, by quoting the con- 
clusions of the intelligent commission of the British government, 
before referred to : 

"Regarded simply as a great mathematical and scientific school, 
its results, in producing eminent men of science, have been extraor- 
dinary. It has been the great (and a truly great) mathematical uni- 
versity of France. 

"Regarded again as a preparatory school for the public works, it 
has given a very high scientific education to civil engineers, whose 
scientific education in other countries (and amongst ourselves) is be- 
lieved to be much slighter and more accidental. 

" Regarded as a school for the scientific corps of the army, its pe- 
culiar mode of uniting in one course of competition for civil and 
military services, has probably raised scientific thought to a higher 
point in the French than in any other army. 

" Regarded as a system of teaching, the method it pursues in de- 
veloping the talents of its pupils, appears to us the best we have 
ever studied. 

"It is, in its studies and some of its main principles, that the ex- 
ample of the polytechnic school may be of most value. In forming 
or improving any military school, we cannot shut our eyes to the 
successful working at the polytechnic of the principle, which it was 
the first of all schools to initiate, the making great public prizes the 
revt'ard and stimulus of the pupil's exertions. We may observe how 
the state has here encouraged talent, by bestowing so largely assis- 
tance upon all successful but poor pupils, during their school career. 
We may derive some lessons from its method of teaching, though 
the attempt to imitate it might be unwise. Meanwhile, without 
emulating the long established scientific prestige of the polytechnic, 
we have probably amongst ourselves abundant materials for a mili- 
tary scientific education, at least as sound as that given at this great 
school." 

The special military school at St. Cijr is the same that was origi-" 
nally established at Fontainebleau in 1803, and was transferred to 



22 

St. Cyr in 1808. The buildings occupied by the school are those 
formerly used by Madame de Mainl.aion, and the school which she 
superintended, near the village of St. Cyr. To enter the infantry, 
cavalry or marine services, a young man may cither rise from the 
ranks, or successfully pass through the course of study prescribed at 
the military school at St. Cyr. It is possible, in time of war, that 
a private may rise to be an officer of engineers or artillery, but the 
number thus promoted is limited ; and as a general thing, they are 
afterwards required to take a modified course at the special school 
for engineers and artillery at Metz. Besides furnishing officers for 
the infantry, cavalry and marine, about 2-5 of the most distinguished 
of each class are, at the close of their term at St. Cyr, brought into 
competition for admission into the staff school (Etat Major) at Paris, 
the superior advantages of this department thus affording a strong 
stimulus to exertion. 

The course of study at St. Cyr is 2 years, and the institution usu- 
ally numbers about 5 or GOO cadets, who are admitted by competi- 
tive examination. The buildings from several courts or quadrangles, 
named after the battles of Napoleon, as the court of Rivoli, the 
court of Austerlitz, &c. The ground floor forming the courts of 
Marengo, Austerlitz and Wagram, appeared to be occupied by two 
refectories, by lecture and other public rooms. On the 1st floor are 
the salles d'etude, and the public rooms containing models, &c. Oa 
the second floor are the dormitories. 

The salles d'' etude accommodate about 200 pupils, arranged oq 
parallel seats, with a narrow passage between, and are used as gene- 
ral studij rooms, in which the pupils prosecute their studies, in the 
presence of one or more officers of the institution. 

The refectories were arranged with two rows of small tables, each 
table accommodating 12 cadets, and a long narrow passage separating 
the parallel rows of tables. 

The dormitories, containing about 100 each, named after the Cri- 
mean battles, Alma, Inlcermann, &c., were occupied by rows of small 
iron bedsteads each with a shelf over it and a box by its side. The 
cadets make up their own beds, clean their own shoes, and attend 
to the police of their dormitories. 



23 

I did not see the infantry drills, as they take place shortly after 
sunrise, but I witnessed, on two occasions, the exercises for the 
cavalry service. The stables contain about 350 horses, attended to 
by 200 cavalry soldiers. The cadets for the cavalry service ride 3 
hours a day, and the exhibition which they made was very creditable 
to the school. 

I was much interested in the models connected with the endneer- 
ing and mathematical departments of the school, and was induced, 
from the great value of some of them, as aids in our own course of 
study, to order a few of the most important for this institution. I 
am sure that nothing could contribute more to an improvement of 
these departments at the institute, than a full collection of these 
models ; and I hope that the means to purchase them may be given 
at no distant day. 

The competiiive examinations upon which cadets are admitted into 
the military schools of France, besides elevating the character of 
the material introduced into the public services, exercise a most 
powerful influence upon the civil common schools of the country'. 
Upon this point, I quote again from the English commissioners' 
report : 

" This is one jiicce of advice [said a distinguished French general, 
well known as a man of science, in conversation with usi. Fix 
your jjrogrammc fur admission at a high point ; keep rigidlij and nncom- 
promisinghj to it ; reject all luho do not reach it ; and raise it gradually ; 
preparation will be made accordingly ; the pupils ivill say to their masters, 
' This is required — teach its this ;'' and you will gradually raise the stan- 
dards (f all the preparatory schools in the country. So at least it has 
been in France.^ ^ 

And the commissioners add, " So certainly it does seem to have 
been. The standard in certain studies has been steadily elevated, 
while the importance of others has been gradually reduced ; and in 
fact, a complete revolution in the whole system has been effected." 

These remarks are fully confirmed by the observation made to me 
by Sir Frederick Abbott, of the military school at Addiscombe, who 
recommended an open and competitive examination for Addiscombe, 
not only from the advantages likely to accrue to the institution 



24 

itself, but as inevitably tending to elevate the grade of all those 
schools which would be looked to as preparatory to the military 
schools of England. 

I have dwelt so much at large upon the»character and operations 
of the military schools of France, that it may not be necessary to 
go into the same detail with regard to the other establishments of 
the kind which I was permitted to examine in Europe. 

I was very much pleased with a visit made to the Royal military 
academy of Sardinia. The establishment of a more liberal govcrn- 
raent in Sardinia since the revolution of 1S49, has infused new 
energy into the operations of the government, and no interest has 
more sensibly felt this than that connected with military education. 
The buildings used for the purposes of the Royal military academy 
are contiguous to the royal palace, and are in many respects admi- 
rably arranged for the purposes of a military school. The governor 
of the academy, General Pctt.inengo, accompanied by members of 
his staff, very kindly took me through every ^art of the establish- 
ment — the refectories, the dormitories, lecture rooms, and examina- 
tion halls, hospital, &c. — all of which seemed to be admirably suited 
for the uses to which they were applied. 

I was particularly interested in the drawing department, to which 
I found great attention paid in this school. As tests of the qualifi- 
cations of the cadets, examinations in drawing were required at the 
close of each term, at which the merits of the pupils were deter- 
mined by the quality and dispatch exhibited in the drawings exe- 
cuted in an allotted time. 

The military academy at Turin also attaches great value to the 
preparation of original memoirs, which are required of all the senior 
cadets. Musket and ride target practice receives also much atten- 
tion. there. In a word, I was very much pleased with all that I 
saw in this institution, and left it with the impression that it must 
exert a commanding influence upon the cause of general as well as 
military education in Sardinia. 

In all the military schools of Europe, great attention is paid to 
gymnastic exercises. These are not only practiced for the purpose 



25 

of developing the manly vigor of the pupils, but as essential ele- 
ments in the discipline and instruction of troops for light service. 
They are generally conducted under the direction of an officer vi'ho 
acts as instructor, and are regarded as a part of the regular system 
of instruction. At Vincennes, St. Cyr, as well as at Turin, the 
arrangements for these exercises were very perfect, and the system 
is well worthy of the consideration of this school. 

The great, agriculturol school of Germany is at Hohenheinif in Wur- 
temburg, six miles south of Stuttgard. Hohenheim {High-Home) 
was originally a ducal palace, which was transferred, on the corona- 
tion of the present king of Wurtemburg, to the uses of an agricul- 
tural school. The extensive ranges of court rooms, servants' rooms, 
halls, stables, &c. which constituted the arrangements of the royal 
residence, came in most admirably for the new uses to which they 
were applied. The public halls answered very well for the exhibi- 
tion and instrumental rooms; the stables, for the cattle and sheep — 
while dormitories for 130 students were easily provided in the long 
ranges of the second 'floor. The school was unfortunately in vaca- 
tion when I visited it, but I found one of the sub-officers there, 
who spoke French, and he, together with an intelligent student 
from Belgium, show^ed me every attention, and sberaed pleased to 
afford me all the information at their command. 

This school is a great scientific and practical school of agriculture. 
It is not a manual labor school, although any student is at liberty 
to labor if he choose. The basis of the school is careful instruction 
in scientific agriculture, embracing chemistry, geology, mineralogy, 
mechanics, physiology, animal as well as vegetable, and every thing 
belonging to the diseases of animals and stock. The principles thus 
taught in the class room are made the basis of the experimental in- 
struction on the farm, for 1,000 acres of good arable land are at- 
tached to the school. Does science show that the application of a 
particular manure will be judicious — the experiment is made, and 
the results carefully noted, and this not slightly, but with patient 
and laborious care. When the result is fully established, it is pro- 
claimed, and becomes the established rule for the farmer every 
where. Is the manufacture of cheese the subject before the class — 
the professor will deliver his lecture, explain the rationale of the 
process, and also the manipulations necessary ; and while the lec- 
4 



20 

ture is in progress, the milk will have passed from its liquid state to 
that of pressed clicese. So that theoretic and applied science is so 
joined in the instruction here, that Hohcnheim is regarded through- 
out Germany as the authority on agricultural matters, which deter- 
mines all questions of policy in this branch of industry; and a 
knowledge of this fact makes the professors slow to express an opi- 
nion on any point, until conclusive evidence satisfies them which is 
the true answer. Thus, an enquiry was presented as to the relative 
economy in feeding 100 weight of hay to cattle or sheep, and the 
result was favorable to the latter in the proportion of some 20 per 
cent. 

All new implements of agriculture are sent to Hohenheim for 
testing. The professor will explain to his class, before they are 
tried, the mechanical principles involved, their effect upon the 
draught of the animal, as founded upon his physiological structure ; 
and then the test is made. 

In Germany, oxen pull by the horns, the band passing in front of 
the head just below the roots of the horns. This is not an acci- 
dental arrangement, but reasons are given for it, founded upon the 
form and strength and (durability of the animal. 

The model rooms contained every variety of agricultural imple- 
ments, among which I noticed with pride the reaper of our own 
countryman^ McCormick. The implements which were not on hand 
for use in the field, were exhibited by most carefully constructed 
models. In the sced-xoom, every variety of seed and root was taste- 
fully arranged ; and these specimens are not exhibited merely to be 
looked at. Their peculiar properties are carefully unfolded by the 
lecturer, as he presents them to his class. My eye rested upon a 
fine specimen of a common potato. I took it up, and finding it 
much ligliter in weight than a potato of its size should be, I enquired 
how it had been so carefully preserved. My guide laughed heartily 
at my question, and replied, that the specimen I held was a model in 
wood. And models in wood were shown, in like manner, of apples, 
cherries, &c. all of which would have equally deceived me, had not 
ray attention been drawn to the model potato. In the same room 
were specimens of wool of every variety, carefully arranged by 
classification. 



27 

I was particularly interested in the hall o^ forestry. Here every 
variety of luood was seen in choice specimens, and classified, each 
class embracing those timbers which possessed distinct peculiarities : 
thus, timbers which would bore without splitting; then those that 
might be turned ; and also those that could be reduced to thin la- 
minae — all of which was very suggestive to me as presenting one 
important defect in our American education. With every variety 
of the noblest forest trees upon earth, so little attention is paid to 
their study, that our young men scarcely know the names of the 
trees as they pass them in the woods, much less their qualities and 
properties; and yet is there any part of agriculture so well de- 
serving of attention as the culture, preservation and properties of 
our forest timber. 

The cattle stables contained some 70 or 80 very fine cows of the 
Swiss breed, the calves from which were raised and sold for labor. 
They are never removed from their stalls except to water, twice 
each day; and their food is regulated by carefully tested experiments. 

Some nventy-Jioe mechanics are employed constantly at the school 
in making implements and models, which are sold. 

The school is composed of the academy proper, and institute, or 
school of application. The charges of the first are about 30,000 
florins (say $ 12,000) annually, and these are met by the tuition fees 
of the students. The expenses of the institute amount to 40,000 
florins ($16,000), and the sales of stock, produce from the fiirm, and 
models, about equal the expenditure — so that, as nearly as I could 
ascertain, the school is self-sustaining. 

The expenses to each student amount to about $300 a year, and 
this sum may be reduced by the student availing himself of the fa- 
cilities for cheap boarding in the neighborhood. I found the school 
deficient in public documents. They had nothing except in German; 
and I was only able to get a couple of pamphlets in this language, 
giving a programme of the course of studies and discipline. 

It is well known to you, sir, that peculiar circumstances have 
directed the policy, and seem still to fix the destiny of this institu- 
tion. Called into being as a substitute for what was considered 
an evil in the established guard then attached to the Lexington 



28 

arsenal, without any distinct or definite sphere of operations before 
it as an educational establishment, in the minds of its original 
founders, it has been developed, from year to year, partly under the 
influence of controlling causes within the institution itself, and 
partly from what has seemed to be an imperative call of duty from 
without. As it has progressed, its destiny has seemed to mark it 
out more and more distinctively to be to Virginia and the South, 
what the polytechnic school and the special schools connected 
with it, have been to Paris and to France — a general scientific school. 
Its military character as a part of the public guard of the state; 
its distinctive organization upon the basis of the United States railU, 
tary academy at West Point; its normal character as a school from 
which the state might be supplied with a corps of competent native 
teachers; the demand for its graduates in the important interest of 
civil engineering — and in general, the y^/^ nccessliy for a school of 
physical sciences, where, to use your own language, " our young 
men will study nature in all her infinite and immutable laws, and 
whence they will come out, learned in science, skillful in practice, 
with powers to wield all the laws of nature in behalf of the physi- 
cal, intellectual and moral progress of their country" — these are 
the circumstances which have shaped the destiny of the institution, 
and which have brought the board of visitors to the conviction that 
it is their duty to make it a great school of physical sciences for 
the south. 

The gradual steps in this development have not been taken with- 
out careful consideration on the part of its friends, and without 
awakening some apprehension lest in the tendency to what might 
be called a practical education, the directors of the school might 
lose sight of the true object of education as designed rather to de- 
velop the mental and moral faculties, than to qualify the student 
for the active duties of life — lest the too exclusive prosecution of 
scientific studies might lead to a narrow, contracted, one-sided and 
sometimes skeptical state of the mind — and finally, lest the influence 
of the example founded upon the experience of the great educational 
establishments of this and our mother country, England, might be 
lost sight of in the swelling tide of progress which marks the cha- 
racter of the age. 

These suggestions have been met by the facts, that it was still 
an unsettled point what class of studies was best adapted to de- 



29 

velop the powers of the human mind, inasmuch as the results, 
founded upon experience, were too much influenced by natural or 
contingent causes, to be made the basis of any dogmatic conclu- 
sions on the subject — that education, to be worth any thing, must 
have respect to the duties of life, and that the education which 
was useful to some, was not necessarily useful to all — that truth. 
Divine truth alone could put straight the perverted and perverting 
condition and tendency of the human mind, and was equally appli- 
cable under one as under another system of mental training — and 
finally, that the established institutions which had come down to 
us from the past, would either have to adapt themselves to the gene- 
ration upon which they were to act, and to the felt necessities of 
the w^orld, under the existing circumstances of society, or they 
would be useless for the purposes for which they were established. 

I had little expected that my observations abroad would furnish 
me with such conclusive demonstration of the correctness of these 
views. I had expected to find on the continent of Europe much 
that was in sympathy with the general tendency of the operations 
of this school; but I had not imagined, for no sufficient data had 
previously existed to enable me to see, to what an extent the mind 
of the British nation had been awakened on these various ques- 
tions, and how fully the response had been in harmony with the 
views here expressed, and with the developments which have marked 
the progress of this institution. 

Let it not be supposed that this awakening has involved any de- 
preciation of the value or importance of the old systems of educa- 
tion, as they had come down from the past, for the peculiar objects 
and purposes for which they were in many respects admirably suited, 
or that the views now extensively gaining ground, are intended to 
supersede these old teachings; but that the public mind is becom- 
ing more and more satisfied that the education which was useful to 
some, was not necessarily useful to all — that there is now a more de- 
cided acknowledgment of the fact that the wants of the larsrest and 
most influential part of society, embracing the middle ranks, with 
some mixture from the upper and lower classes, and comprising the 
agriculturist, the merchant, the manufacturer, the artist, the civil 
engineer, the artisan, and to some extent, the professions of law and 
medicine, are not provided for by the existing systems of the schools; 



30 

and that measures are now in progress to supply these wants, to 
which the universities of England are prominently lending their in- 
fluence, and by which provision will be made to give an education 
at least as liberal as that supplied by the " schools." 

When I reached England, I found the public papers much inte- 
rested in what was termed ^^ the middle class examinations'^' of Oxford 
and Cambridge. At first I had supposed that these examinations 
had reference to the candidates of these universities for honors, or 
certificates of distinction ; on discovering my error in this conjec- 
ture and seeing that the examinations referred to were of the pupils 
of schools not connected with the universities, I had supposed that 
the term ^'■middle class" defined the class of boys who were the sub- 
jects of these examinations, as coming from the middle walks of life. 
I was equally in error here. The term ^^ middle class" is understood 
to apply not so much to the individual educated, as to the education 
itself, as one lying between the high culture attainable at a univer- 
sity and the humble rudiments required at a parish school. And it 
was in reference to this class of education that these examinations 
were then in progress. 

On the 18th of June 1857 the university of Oxford passed a sta- 
tute establishing two examinations for those not members of the uni- 
versity — one for youths under IS, another for boys under 15. By 
this statute a commission was organized, with legislative and execu- 
tive powers for the several purposes defined by the statute, these 
powers to expire in three years. 

This commission was authorized to frame a scheme of examina- 
tion, appoint examiners, to fix a scale of fees, and arrange all the 
details of the examinations. 

The examinations were to be held at various centres, chiefl}'' the 
large towns, selected as the commission should deem most expedient. 

The "middle class" examinations thus appointed, were to be free 
to all persons of whatever social rank or religious denomination, age, 
and non-matriculation being the oidij limit. 

All candidates must satisfy the examiners that they have mastered 



31 

the elements of a plain English education, after which they are al- 
lowed a wide latitude in the selection of subjects of study. 

Boys under 15, who succeed in the lower examination, obtain a 
certificate. Youths under IS, who pass the higher, receive the title 
of associate of arts. 

The university of Cambridge has followed the example of the 
university of Oxford, and passed a similar statute for middle class 
examinations. The details of this statute differ in some of its ele- 
ments from those of Oxford, the chief difference being in reference 
to the title of associate of arts to the successful seniors. 

The motives which have led these renowned universities to inau- 
gurate so important a system as is embraced in these middle class 
examinations, are fully set forth in the memorials which have been 
presented to them from the various interests connected with them ; 
in communications from masters of schools who have recommended 
them ; and in an elaborate? argument of one of the Oxford examiners, 
T. D. Acland, Esq., himself late a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford^ 
in an account of the " Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examina- 
tions,'''' published in 18-58. 

The memorial of the med'ical profession of London states, "We be- 
lieve that the adoption of such a S3'^stem (middle class examination) 
may be most beneficial, by supplying a means primarily for testing, 
and secondarily for increasing and guiding the preliminary know- 
ledge of many who are destined for the study and practice of medi- 
cine, thus meeting a want which has been long and deeply felt." 

The architects of London join in the memorial, because they " think 
that if some knowledge of the history and principles of the arts, 
and of the physical sciences connected with them, were encouraged 
as a part of the general education of the middle ranks, much na- 
tional benefit would result from the more just appreciation of the 
works of professional men." 

At a meeting of the committee of the metropolitan and provin- 
cial law association, held on the 19th January 1858, it was " Re- 
solved, that this committee has seen with great satisfaction the regu- 



32 

lations wliich the university of Oxford has made to encourage a 
higher standard of education among that part of the youth of the 
kingdom hitherto unconnected with tlie universities." 

The Rev. Harvey Goodwin, late Ilulsean lecturer, Cambridge, re- 
cently appointed dean of Ely, writes, "For my own part, I have 
long reflected upon the condition of middle school education in 
England, and the necessity of bringing it to a higher standard. * * 
* * * * I apprehend that what is called middle education might 
be benefited by a system of university examination. In so saying I 
would especially guard myself against being supposed to imply that 
by such means it would be possible to communicate to the middle 
classes the peculiar advantages of Oxford or Cambridge. No ex- 
aminations can be a substitute for resideiice; and those features of 
university life, which chiefly make Oxford and Cambridge what 
they are, and to which you and I probably look back as amongst 
the most blessed influences ever brought to bear upon us, must 
still be reserved for those who are able and v^'illing to give seve- 
ral years to unbroken university study. But because we cannot 
give all, we need not hesitate to give what we can; and while 
residence must be confined to comparatively few, the benefits of 
examination may be conferred upon a multitude. # * » 
But what will the universities themselves say? or ratlier what will 
Cambridge say ? for that is the question to which you expect me to 
give an answer, and to ask which you took the trouble of paying 
our university a visit the other day. # # * Judging 
from the general spirit of the place, I believe that the proposition 
for carrying out some such plan as that which you have brought 
before us, would meet with great favor. # * # -yy-g 
want something which shall endear us to the middle classes ; we 
want something that shall make Oxford and Cambridge more than 
mere names in the minds of those classes, and prevent them from 
being regarded as merely clerical seminaries ; we want a wider field 
of action, in order to make even the work that we are doing at 
present more eficctive and influential." 

Rev. Alfred Barry, M. A., late fellow of Trinity college, Cam- 
bridge, and now head master of Leeds grammar school, thus writes 
to Mr. Acland : 

" It is with the greatest pleasure that I see the attempt to estab- 



lish a system of examinations for middle schools, under the sanc- 
tion of the universities. We have drawn up a petition from Leeds, 
stating our viev^^s on the subject. It has been signed by many inte- 
rested in middle class education, and the number of signatures might 
very easily have been increased. I have not tlie slightest doubt that 
such a movement w^ould be welcomed all over the country by all 
grammar schools, commercial schools, &c. as one of the greatest 
boons they could receive. * * * Por the class attending these 
schools is most important, drawn as it is from the middle ranks of 
society, with a slight admixture of the classes above and below ; 
and the schools themselves play a most prominent part in that fusion 
of classes v/hich is the stability of English society. * * * Now 
the universities at present guide us very little. I have 200 boys, 
and yet do not send on an average more than three every year to 
the universities; nor do I think it likely this number will increase 
to more than six or seven, at the outside. The mass of boys go else- 
where, to what is called ' business' chiefly ; and we have no means 
of showing whether they are well taught or not. Nothing could 
possibly help us more than the power of referring to ' honors' 
gained in examination." 

Mr. Templeton, M. A. of the university of Aberdeen, and princi- 
pal of a classical and commercial school in Exeter, writes : 

"If the universities would sanction the scheme, and grant some 
honorary title to those who fairly come up to a fixed standard, a 
lasting benefit would be conferred on that class of the country 
which forms the backbone of English society, and on which the 
well being of the state mainly depends; from which the higher 
classes are often recruited, and on which the laboring population 
chiefly depend for their subsistence." 

I have quoted freely from the account of the " Origin and Objects 
of the Nev/ Oxford Examinations," given by Mr. Acland, to show 
that the systems of education existing in England did not meet the 
wants of the large and influential class of its population which 
holds its wealth, and in a great measure controls the destinies of the 
nation. Of 200 boys in Mr. Adams' grammar school in Leeds, onhj 
three on ayi average go every year to the universities. The others go 
from the grammar school at once to " business^ Now, can it be 



34 

supposed that if the universities supplied the education that was 
wanted, this state of things could exist? No adequate provision 
had been made by the universities for the necessities of this large 
class of society, and hence they did not go there. No institutions 
existed of a character suited to their wants, and hence those consti- 
tuting the " backbone" of English society pass from the grammar 
school to business — and therefore these head masters pray that be- 
fore they enter upon the practical business of life, the universities 
may take care, by examinations under their appointment, and ac- 
companied by their honors to successful candidates, that they go to 
their work with the education suited for it. If the boys will not 
go up to the universities, let the universities come down to the boys, 
and thus provide and regulate the education which is demanded for 
them. 

But I quote the pertinent language of the Oxford examiner, Mr. 
Acland, on this point: 

" Time was when Oxford and Cambridge possessed a virtual mono-poly 
of the higher branches of education., and commanded the entrance to the 
chief posts, not oyily iii the church, bnt also at the bar and in medicine. 
This is no longer the case. To the causes of the change, whether within 
or without the universities, I need not refer in detail ; one, however, is ger- 
mane to the matter in hand — the growth of physical science in manufac- 
tures and locomotion. 

" This has told both on the universities and on the nation. 

"The first consequence has been, that the comfortable mainte- 
nance, inaccessible within the universities, has been often supplied 
to scientific men by boards of directors and trading companies. 

'• The second, that a new form of social influences has sprung up 
in the metropolis and elsewhere. Science has supplied the common 
ground on which the noble, the divine, the philosopher and the 
engineer have been glad to meet, whether at the soirees of the 
aristocracy, at scientific societies, or in social clubs. 

" Concurrently with the spread of new intellectual and social 
influences, the world has been gradually finding out one deficiency, 



35 

which not only prevails in the ranks of practical men, but even 
affects some grades of the professions. I refer to the want of a 
good general education as a preparation for scientific and commercial 
pursuits. 

" In proportion as Oxford and Cambridge have seen the necessity 
of giving a more prominent place to natural science in the complete 
education of an English gentleman, practical men have been learning 
the value of classics and mathematics. The world knocks at the 
door of the schools and of the senate-house, and asks for help to 
guide its children in general education. * * * * 

*' The recognition of this actual state of facts is a great part of 
what is asked for at the hands of the universities. I contend that 
Oxford has acted wisely in granting tiie request with a good grace, 
and in 'putting itself in harmony with the generation on which it is bouiid 
to act; and that it may reasonably hope to strengthen thereby its 
power of doing good." 

The tendency of this great movement, and the character of the 
existing educational want, may be still more fully seen in the wide 
range given to the subjects of the middle class examinations, and in 
the arrangements presented for the great prominence assigned to art 
as an important branch of liberal education. 

Examination of Senior Candidates, 
{For the Title of Associate of Arts.) 
I. All candidates will be required to satisfy the examiners in 

1. Analysis of English sentences and parsing, and correction of 
faulty sentences. 

2. A short English composition. 

3. Arithmetic. 

4. Geography. Every candidate will be required to draw from 
memory an outline map of some country in Europe, to be named by 



36 

the examiners, showini? the boundary lines, the chief ranges of 
mountains, the chief rivers, and the chief towns. 

5. The outlines of English history — that is, the succession of 
sovereigns, the cliief events, and the characters of the leading men 
in each reign. 

II. The examination in rudiments of faith and religion is not re- 
quired of any candidate whose parents or guardians shall have de- 
clined it on his behalf. 

III. Every candidate will also be required to satisfy the exam- 
iners in two at least of the sections marked A, B, C, D ; or in one 
of those four, and in one of those marked E and F. 

Section A — English. 
This will include questions in 

1. English history, from the battle of Bosworth field to the res- 
toration ; and the outlines of the history of English literature 
during the same period. 

2. Shakspeare's King Lear and Bacon's Essays. 

3. The outlines of political economy and English law. The ex- 
amination will extend beyond the subjects treated of in the first 
book of Smith's Wealth of Nations, and the first volume of Black- 
stone's Commentaries. 

4. Physical, political and commercial geography. A fair know- 
ledge of one of these four classes of subjects will enable a candi- 
date to pass in this section. 



Section B — Lansruasces. 
1. Latin. 2. Greek. 3. French. 4. German. 



A fair knowledge of one of these languages will enable the can- 
didate to pass in this section. 



37 

Section C — Mathematics, 

1. Pure mathematics. 

2. Practical mechanics (including mechanism) and hydrostatics^ 
mathematically treated, surveying and navigation. 

Algebra to the end of quadratic equations and four books of 
Euclid, will enable a candidate to pass in this section. 

* 

Section D — Physics. 

1. Natural philosophy. Great importance will be attached to 
good mechanical drawing. 

2. Chemistry. Questions will be set on the facts and general 
principles of chemical science. There will be a practical examina- 
tion in the elements of analysis. 

3. Vegetable and animal physiology. Questions will be set on 
vegetable physiology in general, and on the functions of vertebrata 
in animal physiology. Parts of plants and bones of vertebrata will 
be given for description. Great importance wtll be attached to 
good botanical and anatomical drawing. 

A fair knowledge of one of these classes of subjects will enable 
a candidate to pass in this section ; but in all cases, a practical ac- 
quaintance with the subject matter will be indispensable. 

Section E — Drawing. 

1. Drawing from the flat, from models, from memory, and in per- 
spective, and drawing of plans, sections and elevations. 

2. Design in pen and ink, and in colors. 

3. The history and principles of the arts of design. 

A fair degree of skill in free hand drawing will be required, in 
order that a candidate may pass in this section. 



38 

Section F — Music. 

1. The grammar of music. 

2. The history and principles of musical composition. 

Tlie elements of thorougli bass will be required in order that a 
candidate may pass in this section. 

In the above programme, it will be seen that much prominence is 
assigned to the position of art. The views of Mr. Acland are so im- 
portant in this connection, that I am sure no apology is necessary 
for presenting them in full. 

" In every country which has reached an advanced state of civili- 
zation, the right mode of cultivating the arts, and of educating the 
designer and the workman, must sooner or later engage attention. 
"We appear to be arrived in England at a crisis on this subject, from 
wdiich we must 2:0 forward or backward. 



O" 



" I understand by the term art, not merely the Jine arts, but what 
are commonly called useful and ornamental arts, especially those 
which are in any way connected with beauty, form, color or sound. 
If we set aside those arts which relate to the provision of food,- how 
large a proportion of the middle classes are concerned in making, 
buying or selling what may minister to the sense of beauty or the 
reverse? House building, with all that it involves in the way of 
decoration, exterior or interior, and furniture, and the supply of 
clothing, must ever occupy a large portion of our population, to say 
nothing of the minor arts which minister to personal ornament, or 
to the multiplication of the works of the artist. On merely utilita- 
rian grounds, it is of the utmost importance to the commercial posi- 
tion of England, that she should not be outdone by foreigners in 
matters of such general demand. But in order to this end, art must 
find its place in national education, by the side of literature and, science. 
If the artist is to design and the workmen is to execute, there must 
be a discerning public to appreciate the good and discourage the 
bad." # * * # # 



39 

Mr. Acland then proposes : 

" First — To recognize art as one branch of a liberal education, by 
the side of literature and science. 

" Secondly — To give the artist facilities and encouragement for 
the general cultivation of his ov^/n mind. # * * * 

" The practical difficulty seems to be of two kinds : 1st — that 
the principles of art are so vague that they are difficult to state, and 
still more difficult to learn except by practice; and, 2dly — that few 
have time both for art and for general education. 

"These difficulties are not to be lightly disregarded ; neverthe- 
less, it may still be true — 1st, that a system of education which 
ignores the principles of art, is incomplete; 2dly, that an artist, 
who is a mere self-taught worker, would in all ordinary cases be 
the better for a knowledge of what others have done before him, 
and for instruction in the facts with which he has to deal — in other 
words, that he needs literature and science for the full development 
of the gift which nature has implanted in him. . 

"As to the first point — It may be taken as now generally admit- 
ted, that literature, especially poetry, is of the first importance in 
the early stages of a liberal education — that it awakens power, 
gives vitality, and freedom and versatility to the mind, for the ab- 
sence of which, especially in those who are to act on the minds of 
other human beings, nothing can compensate. Secondly — That an 
exclusive cultivation of a literary taste, with a neglect of science, 
tends to a narrow fastidiousness, and robs a man of innumerable 
opportunities of interest in the laws of the world in which he lives, 
and in the work of his fellow-creatures. The value of science, both 
mathematical and physical, as a means of giving strength to the 
reasoning powers, accuracy and concentration of thought, and scru- 
pulousness in the examination of evidence, will not be denied at 
the present day by any one who, with a desire to hand down unim- 
paired the work of our forefathers to future generations, has taken 
an interest in the expansion of the educational system of England. 
But while literature fosters vitality, and science, accuracy — the one, 
submission to great laws, the other, a freedom which rises above 



40 

slavery to system — it would seem that art occupies a position be- 
tween the two, and preserves, like poetry, the vital union of the 
imagination and reason; and as art manifests' itself not in books, 
nor in systems of thought, but in works, the study of the works 
which great men have produced must bring a valuable contribution 
to a complete education. In one sense, art finds its expression in 
the constructive tendencies of children and in the games of boys; 
and so nature calls into play invention, judgment, experience, and 
puts knowledge into practice ; and some youths thus gain education 
from what they do as sailors or soldiers, or even from the activity 
or faihiros of the cricket-field or the hunting-field, which they never 
gain from books or lectures. It may be a question whether any 
system of education which does not provide for spontaneous activity, 
except as an excrescence or irregularity, can be rigiit. Whether 
and in what way the practical arts can be made to bear their part 
in a liberal education, is another question ; but clearly they must 
be taken into account in some form in dealing with middle class 
examination, and therefore must not be neglected by those who un- 
dertake the responsibility of guiding it." 

These views are enforced by arguments from Rev. F. Temple, 
late fellow of Balliol college, Oxford, and one of the inspectors of 
public schools, Dr. Acland, reader in anatomy in Oxford, and from 
John Ruskin, Esq. and other artists of England, in communications 
which Mr. T. D. Acland has introduced into his "Account of the 
Origin and Objects of the New Oxford Examinations." They are 
in a high degree suggestive, as showing the tendency of the public 
mind in England as to what constitutes a liberal education. 

The middle class examinations, thus established by the two lead- 
ing universities of England, were commenced for the first time just 
as I reached England. To judge of the manner in which this im- 
portant movement was received by the public, I copy from the 
London Times extracts from the proceedings of the public authori- 
ties at two of the principal centres of examinations. 

The city of Bath was selected as one of the places for conduct- 
ing the exammations under the Oxford statute. A large meeting 
was held in Guildhall in that city, under the presidency of the 
mayor, to receive the examiners for that district. The mayor having 
stated the object of the meeting, and expressed the satisfaction he 



41 

felt at the nnmber of candidates who had presented themselves 
from the schools of Bath, one of the magistrates of the county 
moved a resolution tendering "most cordial and respectful greeting 
to Mr. T. D. Acland,T). C. L., and Rev. S. G. Ward, on their visit 
to Bath as representatives of the University of Oxford, on this occa- 
sion of the first New Oxford examinations in that city." Before put- 
ting the resolution, the m'ayor said, that "the term middle class 
examination had been used very extensively in reference to the pro- 
posed examinations, and had been very prejudicial to the movement. 
The examinations were not intended for any partio<ul;ir class, but to 
be applicable to all young men who were not members of the uni- 
versity." The resolution was carried by acclamation. Mr. Acland 
then addressed the meeting at considerable length. After acknow- 
ledging the greetings with which the delegation had been received, 
he said : " Their appearance in the garb in which they presented 
themselves (the Oxford gown), and the ceremony wnth which they 
commenced this first examination, showed that it was not regarded 
by them as an aftliir of to-day, but as a great national proceeding, 
which was not to terminate with their individual action. The his- 
tory of the progress of the human mind in England was associated 
very closely with the history of the universities; and if they went 
back to the origin of the universities, they would find certain great 
practical influences always going side by side with the training in 
learning therein obtained. The two great professions which took 
care of the health and property of men, were proofs of this. In 
this age, it had become evident that the ancient universities, so long as they 
continued to abide on the jirhnary educatioji of language and the abstruse 
sciences, tvoidd be unable to gy'asj^ the requirements of these two great pro- 
fessions. In our day also, there were other callings fast rising into 
the importance of professions, and it ^Iso became of vital interest 
to England that our ordinary retail shops should be united v/ith the 
higher intellectual attainments, especially in the decorative depart- 
ments of art. Agriculture, too, was daily becoming more closely 
connected with science. It became of great importance that these 
interests should not grow up without connection with the old in- 
stitutions of the country and sound learning. He was not going to 
enter into a controversy as to what were the elements of sound 
learning. They lived in peculiar times ; and though he was far 
from considering forms unessential, yet the university of Oxford in 
this movement considered that it was possible for ancient forms to 
6 



42 

be abolished, and for the reality to become stronger by the change. 
In these examinations the university proposed to test the success of 
the education any young man had received, who was not likely to 
pursue a university training. The system was therefore particularly 
designed to meet the wants of those who were likely to enter upon 
the practical business of life as young men." 

At Leeds a similar meeting was held, at which Professor Owen, 
president of the British association, proposed the following resolu- 
tion — " That the thanks of this meeting be given to the delegate 
(Rev. Dr. Hook), and to the examiner (Rev. C. P. Chretren), who 
presided over the late Oxford examination." After taking the op- 
portunity of expressing, on behalf of the British association, their 
great satisfaction at all the arrangements which had been made for 
their meeting (the British association held its annual meeting ia 
Leeds), this learned professor said, " that he had peculiar pleasure in 
proposing that vote of thanks to the Oxford delegate and examiner, 
because of the recent addition to the Oxford system of education, 
which had brought natural history, physiology, and indeed the 
whole range of inductive sciences, within the scope of the teaching 
of that ancient and honored university. Prior to that addition, the 
chiaf characteristic of the teachings of Oxford was the high degree 
in which the dead languages were taught, and the perfection to 
which the thinking faculties were brought by the dialetics taught 
in the universities. And, no doubt, to give to man the faculty of 
clear and profound thought, and the elegant patterns of ancient lan- 
guage in which to express the result of that thouglit, was one of 
the most important branches of education. It was only the exclu- 
sive direction of the aims of the university to that line of perfecting 
man's intellectual nature, to which any objection could be made. 
There was, if he might so speak, something of the element of 
selfishness in it, because it regarded man as too much insulated and 
distinct from the nature around him, with which he had really an 
indissoluble relation and dependence, that never could be ignored 
without some evil following. It was a feature, and had exclusively 
been the feature of the universities — Grermany, for example — to con- 
sider man not only in relation to his own intellectual faculties and 
power, but in relation to the nature in which he was placed. Hence- 
forth there would be no longer a distinction between the teachings 
on the continent and in England. He knew that a knowledge of 



43 

many branches of natural history, which the prince consort derived 
at the university of Bonn, had enabled him to sympathize with and 
enter into the views of Englishmen desirous of promoting science in 
a way he otherwise could not have done. If the peculiar character 
of England in relation to the rest of the world were considered — if, 
for example, there were a marked distinction between England and 
Germany, it was that one country had no colonies, and the other 
had an enormous amount of the surface of the earth in that relation 
with her; and, therefore, what country in the world was more con- 
cerned in giving her children a knowledge of the riches of the earth — 
of the character of the vegetation which grew upon that earth — 
their qualities in relation to food — in relation to the blood, and in 
relation to medicine — a knowledge of the properties of the whole 
world, and the characteristics of the external nature about them — 
what country, he asked, was more concerned in, or could get a 
greater and a quicker reward for such teachings, than Great Britian? 
* * * If he took, for example, our great colony of Australia — 
how long was it before its mineral wealth was even suspected by 
the number of intelligent, active, energetic Englishmen who were 
inhabiting it? The discovery of coyyer ore at Burra-Burra was a 
mere accident — the abundance and richness in which the copper was 
deposited fairly forcing itself upon the attention of one individual. 
It was entirely an accidental discovery : and much of the advantage 
of that productive mine of mineral wealth had really been lost to 
the state, because there was not one young geologist ever sent out 
to study scientifically and rationally the mineral qualities of the 
colony, and the existence of the metal was long overlooked. Some 
years afterwards, a still more valuable metal was discovered in Aus- 
tralia, not by sending out any young person acquainted with the 
rudiments of mineralogy, which would have led him at once to see 
evidences of the highly probable existence of gold beneath the sur- 
face, but by an active, energetic gold-seeker, who after being in 
Australia, had gone to California, but not succeeding there as well 
as he expected, he returned to Australia, and in traveling through 
it, he was struck with how much many of the features of the country 
were analogous to those of California, where he had sought for gold. 
It was thus that Mr. Hargreaves made the first practical discovery 
of gold which had since so extensively developed itself in Australia. 
* * * Another instance bearing on this point he could not help 
mentioning. The universities of Scotland had preceded the English 



44 

universities in tliat nnore extended curriculum of instruction ; and it 
was just because Livingstone had attended the classes of different 
natural sciences in Glasgow, and because during the brief period he 
tarried in London, 18 years ago, before going out to his high mis- 
sion in South Africa, he availed himself of the museums in London 
to improve his natural knowledge, that he had been enabled to 
make iiis wonderful journey in Africa so trul}'' profitable to science 
and to mankind. He stood almost alone as an example of a scien- 
tific traveler in Africa, by reason of that preliminary knowledge of 
nature which he carried with him." 

The views of Professor Owen are strikingly applicable to our 
own state. Wiiat an immense undeveloped territory does Virginia 
present, with stores of mineral wealth waiting for the exploring 
hand of the man of science ! And how much has been lost to her 
and'to the whole country, for the want of just such a kind of edu- 
cational training as he points out! Our mines of coal, salt, iron, 
lead and gypsum have really forced themselves upon the attention 
of those who scarcely knew their presence or their extent ; and the 
practical skill of Edmund Rufin alone unlocked the riches of our 
marl beds, while science in our educated men was fast asleep. 

In tracing the rise a'nd progress of this great movement in Eng- 
land, the results of these middle class examinations must not be over- 
looked, for they have much significance, and are worthy of atten- 
tive consideration. 

It appears that out of eleven hundred of the middle class scholars 
of England, who were candidates for honors under the New Oxford 
statute, iq)wards of seven hundred were rejected. But this is a part 
only, and a very small part, of the truth. These eleven hundred were 
of course the elite of the various schools which they represented. 
With such a result in the case of the candidates for honors, what, of 
necessity, must be the state of tiiose who have been passed by and 
not examined? The former count by hundreds; the latter may be 
enumerated by thousands — and these belonging to a class forming 
the very " backbone of English society.'''' And on what account were 
these candidates for honors rejected ? The Right Hon. M. T. Barnes, 
in his speech at the public meeting at Leeds, just noticed, shows 
why. 



45 

*' When it was remembered that the great want of success had 
been caused by failing in such matters as orlhography, writing, the 
first four rules of arithmetic, geography, and English history, which 
might be properly considered as the most rudhnentary parts of an 
English education, there was too much reason to fear that there 
was in certain schools a tendency, which it was to be hoped the 
effect of these examinations would be to diminish, year by year, to 
substitute for true, sound, practical knowledge, that which was only 
showy and superficial." 

A writer in the London Times puts some pertinent questions on 
these results — " If the middle class schools have thus been found 
wanting, what, for any thing we know, is the condition of the 
great mass of those for the humbler classes? What even of those 
for the upper, both male and female, in the latter of which espe- 
cially, mere fashion and frivolity so often set at nought nearly every 
thing that is either rational, elevating or useful?" 

If the same tests were applied to the same class of schools in 
Virginia, woxAil not the results be still more deplorable? There 
is much. connected with this result that is not peculiai" to England — 
such as " the tendency to make a traffic of education, and the negli- 
gence of parents in seeing that the means of instruction are actu- 
ally possessed by the so-called schools, to which they send their 
children." The essential defects of the English school system, viz : 
inefficient teachers and icorthless text-books, exist with us in Virginia, 
also. " Moderately educated* young men, without professional ex- 
perience, even graduates of whatever degree, fresh from the uni- 
versities, are not necessarily qualified to act as teachers, any more 
than they are thereby qualified to perform a surgical operation, or 
to undertake the command of a brigade." The necessary conse- 
quence of such a system is the use of text-books suited to the quali- 
fications of the teacher. Hence arises the class of " Manuals" — 
equally current in this country as in England — such as " Conversa- 
tions in Grammar," " Conversations in Chemistry," e^c. which, 
while they make a show of educating, they are only successful in 
obstructing. 

I conclude my reference to the New Oxford middle class exami- 
nations, by quoting a passage from a public speech delivered by 



46 

Professor Max Miiller of Oxford, at a meeting held in Exeter, on 
the ISth of June 1S57 : 

"T/«e university of Oxford has (his day sanctioned the degree of asso- 
ciate of arts. It has bj'olien down the ancient barriers which divided clas- 
sical from practical learning. This is a revolution at which the most 
revolutionary professors of Germany and France vnll stand aghast. And 
if you look back to the history of the universities in Europe, you ivill admit 
that it is a revolution, that it is a great change, and, we may add, a sign 
of life and health.''^ 

Simultaneously with this important movement in behalf of the 
middle class education of England, measures have been taken to pro- 
vide increased facilities for the instruction of more advanced youths 
in those departments of study now claiming more particular atten- 
tion. Besides the addition made to tiie scientific branches taught 
in the university of Oxford, a national college has just been organ- 
ized in South Wales, with special reference to the wants of the na- 
tion and of the age. This institution has unfolded its system of 
education in a neat little volume, in which the " Principles of Colle- 
giate Educatio7i are discussed and elucidated in a description of Gnoll 
College.''^ ■ I quote from this volume : 

*' Tlie chief continental states, wisely alive to the value of science, 
in the development of national resources * * * ^g.^ have 
already derived great benefit from institutions established for the 
purpose of qualifying young men, by systematic instruction, to dis- 
tinguish tiiemselves in professions, agriculture, mathematics, and in 
other operations connected with national enterj)rise. 

"Public attention in the United Kingdom has been frequently 
directed to this subject, especially since the great exhibition, and 
some attempts have been made to meet the demand already elicited. 
No design, however, of a sufficiently complete character, has hitherto 
been proposed, and the ground remains clear for the foundation of a 
college adapted to the wants of the age. 

"The objects of Gnoll college are the comprehensive elucidation 
of scientific principles, and the practical application of science to 
the public service and to the chief branches of national industry. 



47 

" The instruction of youths who will have to direct the manu- 
facturing, mercantile, professional and agricultural operations of the 
country, and who are the heirs of its property and capital, has risen 
in few instances beyond the inadequate routine of the old grammar 
schools and universities, now rendered comparatively inefficient by 
the rapid progress of education among the lower classes. 

"The fact has also been publicly recognized by legislative au- 
thority, that a ^ mamifactnrlng and mercantile, has arisen by the side of a 
landed aristocracy, and is exercising great injiuence on the ynblic councils;^ 
and it may be doubted, on the same high authority, ivhether the intellectual 
wants of either of those elevated ranJcs are met by the iiatented and almost 
' worn out^ .routine of the old systetns ; indeed, it may be safely asserted, that 
such is not the case, and, if need be, abundant 'proof will be cited to sup- 
jjort this assertion. 

*' Coming events are at length sufficiently foreshadowed to con- 
vince the majority of thoughtless men of the immediate'and press- 
ing necessity for sustaining the influences of superior wealth by 
superior intelligence; and on this account alone, if other motives 
were wanting, inducement enough is to be found for the prompt 
establishment of a vigorous system of scientific and practical edu- 
cation for the ivcalthier classes. 

"A main cause of the misapprehension that has recently confused 
the public mind, in its laudable endeavors to grasp this question, 
may be traced to the neglectful and inefficient state of the uni- 
versities. 

"The associated colleges which constitute these still great and 
famous corporations, having, according to the highest authorities, 
failed to satisfy the wants of the age, the energy of the nation, un- 
quenched by stubborn resistance, has in many ways undertaken to 
reshape itself. The great efforts of the society of arts afford a long 
series of successful instances. 

"The originators of the present scheme believe that colleges for 
completing the education of youth, and fitting young men for the 
pursuits of mature age, should be distinguished from the seats of 
the special professions. 



48 

"That which the inns of courts might be for lawyers; the col- 
leges of physicians and surgeons, the apothecaries' hall and the 
hospitals for the medical profession, the zmiversitics might become for 
thcologvins and 2ihilosophcrs, 

"To this point indeed the universities arc rapidly tending ; and 
the greatest benefits might be expected from an adaptation of these 
famous establishments to objects of this lofty character. At pre- 
sent, according to the report of the Oxford university commission, 
' The education imiiarted there is not svch as to conduce to the advance- 
ment in life of mamj persons, except those intended for the ininistrij of the 
established chirch.^ " 

With these views of the national importance of their enterprise, 
the originators of Gnoll college, encouraged by the support of some 
of the most learned men of the kingdom, among whom may be 
mentioned Bishop Thincall and Rev. TV. A. Conybcarc, present the 
following scheme of instruction : 



Introductory Couree. 



Examples of Intermediate Courses. 



Examples of Final Courses. 



Matheinatics, 

Mechanics, 
Physics, 

Chemistry, 
Natural History, 
Human History, 
Design, 



Descriptive Geometry ; Higher 

Caleuius. 
Materials of Machinery. 
Investigation of Natural Forces. 

Chemical Analysis; Mineral Che- 
nii.stry; Organic Ciieniistry. 

Geology; Vegetable and Animal 
Materials. 

Languages and Music; Psycho- 
louv and Logic; Sacred and 
Civil History. 

Optical iiiid Photographical Ee- 
presentations; Drawing and 
Painting; Lithography; En- 
graving; Carving; Modeling; 
Sculpture. 



Astronomical Observat'ns; Trig- 
onometrical Surveying. 

Mechanical Arts. 

Steam; Projectiles; Traction; 
Navigation. 

Chemical Manuf\\cturcs; Agri- 
cultural Chemistry ; Sanitary 
Science. 

Mining and Metallic Manufac- 
tures; Vegetable and Animal 
Growth, and ilanufacture. 

Jurisprudence ; Administration ; 
Diplomacy; Commerce; Ora- 
tory ; Letters. 

Constructive Arts; Formative 
Arts; Delineative Arts. 



It is intended that the student shall pass through all the seven 
introdtictortj courses. The special pursuits which each student has 
in view will govern the selection of the intermediate subjects ; for it 
is not contemplated that any mind can perfectly grasp the whole, 
although the influence of the entire range of studies will doubtless 



41) 

be generally felt. The speciality of each student will engross his 
attention in the Jinal series. 

That there is good ground for anticipating success in such an en- 
terprise, the friends of the scheme quote the following language 
from the report of the Oxford university commission: 

"Many persons expect that such a school, when once recognized 
as an independent branch of academical instruction, and supported 
by eminent professors in all its departments, will, from the tendency 
of the age towards the pursuit of material knowledge, be likely to 
assert its own importance, and they (the commissioners) think there- 
fore that to insure success, no more will be needed than to give it 
independent existence, and full scope for action, without making it 
compulsory." 

The Oxford commissioners signing this report, embraced, among 
others, the present Bishop of London, the Bishop of Norwich, and 
Rev. Baden Powell. 

These opinions are impressed as convictions on the minds of the 
originators of Gnoll college. And when it is considered through 
what difficulties men of genius in Great Britain have had to strug- 
gle, without the aid which a suitable education would have afforded 
them ; that her best engineers have received no other education 
than that which results from habitual encounter with difficulties; 
that Br'mdley was first a day laborer, afterwards a working mill- 
wright ; Telford, a working mason ; John Rennie, a farmer's son ap- 
prenticed to a millwright ; and George Stephenson, a brakesman and 
engineman, — can any one doubt the success of an enterprise which 
looks to the wants of this large and influential class of the working 
part of a great nation. 

This sketch of the present movements in Great Britain for the 
modification of its educational system, is not without special inte- 
rest to this school. It confirms, by the experience of a great na- 
tion, now arousing itself to some adequate provision in education 
to meet the demands of its people, the policy which has marked 
the past history of this institution, and is of sufficient significance 
to give the fullest encouragement to it, in its future development. 
7 



50 

It shows that the education demanded by the agriculturist, the mer- 
chant, the manufacturer, the engineer, and, in general, by those 
whose position, whether as large landed proprietors or monied 
men, exercises a commanding influence in the destinies of the coun- 
try, is not met by the " worn out routine of the old systems" on 
the one iiand, nor by a restricted technical course on the other, but 
must be at least as liberal, although of a different kind, as that pro- 
vided for the so-called learned inofessions ; and finally, that art is 
pressing its claims to public attention, as an essential element in 
liberal education; not only from its intimate connection with trade 
and commerce, but from the important office it discharges in de- 
veloping in their true harmony the faculties of the human mind. 

If these views be correct, and I have no doubt that they are, it 
follows, that special schools of application like that for the agricul- 
turist at Hohenheim, or for the civil engineer at the " Ecole dea 
ponts et chaussees," Paris, would not meet the wants of these great 
interests either in Great Britain or this country, unless the youth 
entering them had first received the advantages of a preparatory 
course of liberal general education. Nor would such a preparatory 
course as that given at the polytechnic school, Paris, be sufficiently 
liberal or general for these purposes. The wants of this country as 
well as of England (for the free institutions of both countries place 
them in circumstances to make the same principles applicable to 
both), include, as essential parts of such a liberal education, those 
branches which instruct young men in the performance of their 
duty as citizens, and which cultivate a knowledge of those principles 
which concern the rights and privileges of a free people ; and there- 
fore, any preparatory course which did not keep the student in full 
harmony with the sympathies of the country to which he belongs, 
and upon which he is bound to act, would seem to be defective. 

There are cogent reasons too, why the yreparatorn and special 
schools should be united in one establishment, as in the U. S. mili- 
tary academy at West Point, and as they are proposed to be in 
Gnoll college. 

Economy of time and money is promoted by their union, while 
there is a great advantage in having the influence of the entire 
range of studies generally felt in the institution. 



51 

With the accumulated experience, then, of twenty years in the 
practical operations of this institution, and with the advantages de- 
rived from the experience of other countries, I think, we may very 
satisfactorily define its future policy, so as to prepare it, in a pre- 
eminent degree, for the sphere of usefulness already marked out for 
it as a general scienlijic school. 

Its preparatory course of studies is general and liberal for any of 
the specialities embraced within its range. It comprises Mathematics, 
Languages, including English, Latin and French, Cheinistnj, Phijsics, 
Drawing and Geogr-aphy. 

For some of the special schools comprehended in a general scientific 
institution, it has already in operation a well defined course of 
studies. For the soldier, there is provided a liberal course of mili- 
tary instruction, theoretic as well as practical. For the civil engi- 
neer, architect Q.ndi draughtsman, the course of civil engineering, draw- 
ing, mineralogy and geology and mechanics, supplies a basis upon 
which this special school can with ease be indefinitely extended and 
perfected. For the agriculturist, the accompanying report of Major 
Wm. Gilham, prepared during my absence, and at the suggestion of 
some of the leading agriculturists of the state, and which most fully 
harmonizes with the general scheme herein developed, presents a 
detailed outline. 

And, in like manner, there is not a specific demand that can pro- 
perly be made upon this school, whether from the manufacturer, 
the miner, or the mechanician, that cannot readily be supplied by 
an accommodation of its instruction upon the basis already existing 
for the special necessities of these interests — while the general range 
of the whole system of studies will be just such as is required for 
all those who expect to become practical men or men of business. 

Nor should I omit to mention the special preparation which a 
school thus organized necessarily gives to the professional teacher. 

Independently of the peculiar fitness of those for teachers who are 
trained under its peculiar system of discipline, and who are daily 
drilled in their studies, in small sections, by laborious catechetical 
instruction, the practical elements of the school, in its extensive 



52 

laboratories^ museums, and model rooms, would present special advan- 
tages for this important profession. 

And finally, could the artist seek a more desirable field for prepa- 
ratory or special study than could be provided for him here? Na- 
ture lends her inspiration to him in all the beauty and grandeur of 
the scenery around him, and he only needs the opportunity to 
study the models of the great artists of ancient and modern times, 
to enable him to develop the gift with which he may be blessed. 

What, then, is there to prevent this institution from becoming a 
great school of applied science for our state and for the whole coun- 
try? The line of duty seems plainly marked out before it; the 
field is open and unoccupied; and the command comes with signi- 
ficance at this time — Go forward. 

I would not be understood to intimate by any thing that I have 
said, that this institution should at once occupy the expanded sphere 
thus sketched out for it, or that it was prepared to do so, or that 
many years may not elapse before it shall have reached its fullest 
usefulness in all of these various lines of duty. But I do say, that 
so far as its means may allow, its course of instruction and its general 
arrangements should be at once placed in harmony with the great 
mission before it — that it should perfect itself more and more in 
those branches of study now embraced within its programme, and 
thus be in a state of preparation gradually to unfold itself to the 
wants of the age and of the country. 

I would take the liberty of specifying some of the ways in which 
this preparation may be made : 

1. Its standard of scientific instruction should be elevated. The 
academies and high schools of the state are now giving a better 
scientific education than the colleges did twenty years ago. The 
material coming into this institution is better prepared than it for- 
merly was, and our graduates are pressing upon our steps, and de- 
manding higher and higher standards. We see thus the double 
influence upon education. The elevated grade of instruction in the 
lower schools now reflected back upon the higher with the material 
supplied for still upward progress. 



53 

2. The course of experimental philosophy should be extended, 
and the course of engineering and mechanics specially adapted to 
machines. 

3. Model rooms should be provided for implements, machines, 
models, and works of art ; and museums established, in which, among 
other things, should be exhibited for instruction, specimens of forest 
timber, soil, seed, wool, cotton, tobacco, and other natural produc- 
tions. 

4. A large hall should be provided for public and popular lec- 
tures ; and it should be made the duty of the professors to deliver 
at stated periods, and in a prescribed order, a course of popular lec- 
tures on those branches of science embraced in the programme of 
the school, especially on those which relate to agriculture and the 
arts. 

5. I think the range of studies in modern languages should be ex- 
tended, so as to embrace Spa7iish and perhaps Italian. 

6. The course of moral philosophy, constitutional and national 
law, should be extended, and instruction given in political economy. 

7. More attention to be paid to English studies. Our free institu- 
tions open ways of usefulness to an educated man as a public 
speaker and writer, that ought not to be forgotten nor neglected. 
I have shown, too, what attention is paid in the scientific institu- 
tions of Europe to the preparation of memoirs. The engineer would 
be but poorly fitted for his work, who could not prepare an intelli- 
gible report. 

8. A digest of modern history should be taught. 

9. And finally, facilities should be at once provided for the ad- 
mission of young men from other states. 

To secure these important objects, three additional professors and 
a building fund will be required. 

By thus placing the institution distinctly upon its specific field of 



54 

labor, it would become an important auxiliary to the otlier institu- 
tions of the state, and would receive from them, I have no doubt, a 
hearty support, while it would be building up within our own com- 
monwealth a special school of general applied science, the influence 
of which would be felt upon the state and upon the country. 

I cannot doubt the ultimate success of such a scheme. It may 
be delayed for want of means; but the onward and upward spirit 
which has placed it in its present position, will still press it forward 
to higher and higher fields of usefulness, until it has reached the 
summit of the proud destiny that awaits it. Let us do our parts 
now, and tiie generations following will reap where we have sown. 

I cannot close this report without expressing my great obligations 
to the acting superintendent. Major J. T. L. Preston, who, at much 
personal discomfort and sacrifice, assumed the duties of my office ia 
ray absence. The laborious fidelity with which he has discharged 
these new and trying duties, left me nothing to do on my return but 
to continue the operations of the school just as I found them in his 
hands. 

I have the honor to be, 

Very respectfully, 

Your ob't serv't, 

FRANCIS H. SMITH, 

SuperinlendenU 



MAJ. GILHAM'S REPORT. 



VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, 
January 8, 1859. 
Col. F. H. Smith, Sup. V. M. I. 

Sir, 

The course of instruction in this institution is mainly 
of a scientific and practical character, wisely designed by the board 
of visitors to fit young men for the practical pursuits of life. Agri- 
culture is the leading occupation of the people of Virginia, and of 
the south ; that one upon which depend all other pursuits, and 
which affects the prosperity of even the state itself. A large majo- 
rity of the young men committed to our care, are the sons of form- 
ers, many of whom leave our v^^alls to take charge of farms, while 
many others sooner or later become tillers of the soil ; therefore, it 
appears reasonable that provision should be made Tor agricultural 
instruction. Having given not a little time to the consideration of 
agricultural education, and having satisfied myself of its great im- 
portance, and of the practicability of introducing a thorough course 
in this institution, I beg leave to submit my views upon the sub- 
ject, and to request that you lay this communication before the 
board of visitors at its next meeting. 

Almost every where, at the present time, the prevailing senti- 
ment is in favor of agricultural colleges and schools, and such a 
sentiment is quite prevalent in Virginia and the other southern 
states. There are those, however, who, decrying every thing which 
is not " practical," cry out against " book farming," without think- 
ing that perhaps the young farmer might derive sometiiing of the 
same sort of benefit from a professional education suited to his wants, 
as the lawyer, the divine or the medical man does from his. There 
can, I think, be no reasonable doubt that agricultural schools, if 
properly organized, would accomplish great good ; and I shall take 



56 

but little time in any argument to demonstrate this. Engineering 
is eminently a practical pursuit. The engineer may and generally 
does commence as an humble assistant, and gradually works up 
into tlic higher walks of the profession; and yet it is universally 
assumed that the engineer, if he hopes to master his profession in 
all its details, must, before entering upon it, be thoroughly grounded 
in all the arts and sciences upon which engineering depends. In 
other words, his education must be more or less special — profes- 
sional. Agriculture, while a practical pursuit, is not a whit more 
so than en^ineerim?. Schools for engineers are considered necessi- 
ties, and arc patronized. Why, it may be asked, are agricultural 
schools less necessary, or less likely to be sustained? If the farmer 
is to dignify and adorn his occupation, and at the same time keep 
pace with the age, should not his education have as much of a spe- 
cial bearing as that of the engineer ? 

The best argument in favor of the utility of agricultural schools, 
is to be found in the fact that but'few years have elapsed since 
schools of this kind were ver}^ rare, almost untried. Now, they 
may be counted by the hundred, and their numbers are still in- 
creasing. In Europe, the agricultural school is no longer an experi- 
ment. It is, if we are to believe the reports which reach us, ac- 
complishing gi%at good. The most renowned and probably the 
model school, is that of Hohenheim, for an interesting account of 
which I am your debtor. The others most noted are at Cirencester 
in England, Gignon in France, Moglin in Prussia, and Gorey Goretsh 
in Russia. In 1850 President Hitchcock of Amherst, Mass. enume- 
rated 350 agricultural institutions in Europe. Since that time they 
have greatly multiplied, so that it is estimated that at the present 
time their number is not far from 500 ; and by far the greater num- 
ber of them are the creations of the last twenty years. 

The agricultural college of Cirencester, England, is probably 
more nearly suited to our wants than any other. Tliis institution 
has been in operation but a very few years, and is already doing 
eflficient- service, if we may be allowed to judge from the valuable 
contributions to scientific and practical agriculture which emanate 
from its faculty, and which are coming to us in almost every num- 
ber of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 

In our country, while very much has been said upon the subject, 



57 

very little has yet been done towards the organization of agricul- 
tural colleges and schools. A commencement has been made, how- 
ever; several agricultural colleges have been organized; and we 
may hope that schools of this kind, suited to our wants, will mul- 
tiply with the same rapidity that they have in Europe. • 

While there appears to be but little diversity of opinion in rela- 
tion to the utility of agricultural schools, there seems to be no little 
difference of sentiment as to what range of subjects a course of agri- 
cultural instruction should embrace, and the manner in which in- 
struction should be imparted. Almost all of the institutions yet 
organized are located on farms provided for the purpose. Very 
much of the instruction is of a purely practical nature — the field 
taking the place of the lecture room, and the students being re- 
quired to take part, not so much in the management as in the 
manual labors of the farm. Such a system may be very eflicient in 
the education of young men for managers, stewards, &c. as most of 
the agricultural schools are designed for, but I cannot think that it 
would meet with favor in Virginia or the other southern states, or 
that it is desirable it should. 

The young men of the south who would seek the benefits of an 
agricultural education, belong for the most part to that class who 
have means, who would, if not taking a special course, take the 
ordinary collegiate course of the country, and so soon as their edu- 
cation was completed, enter into the possession of their estates, to 
direct all farm operations, establish rules for the government of ser- 
vants, &c. for themselves. Our first efforts, therefore, should be to 
establish such schools as would be required for the education of the 
proprietors of the landed estates of the country — men who stand in 
the same position, socially and politically, as the members of the bar 
or of the medical profession. This being the case, it is not to be ex- 
pected that we can find in any existing school a model for our 
guidance ; nor indeed is such a model necessary. We live under 
peculiar conditions and must organize schools suited to our. peculiar 
\Bants. 

Our agricultural system is peculiar, and must be so, as it is modi- 
fied in very many of its details by the institution of domestic slavery. 
All or nearly all farm labor is performed by the slave. The master 
8 



58 

must direct liirn, or have him directed in nearly all that he does. 
Law and the common dictates of humanity impose important duties 
upon the master — at the same time that his own interests demand 
that the labors of the slave, while they are not too severe, should 
be constant and productive. The farmer in a free state, who requires 
labor, hires it when he wants it, and of such a character as he may 
most need. When no longer needed, or when not suited to his 
wants, his hands are discharged, and he obtains a new supply, or 
waits until the changing seasons bring around the period fur more 
active labors. The southern farmer, however, having the slave from 
the cradle to the grave, must support him in unproductive youth, 
and in advanced age, and must so direct his labors when he is an 
efficient laborer, that no time shall be lost. In season and out of 
season, the master must find profitable employment for him. Added 
to this, there are moral responsibilities resting upon the master, 
which cannot be shaken oft', or transferred to another — responsibili- 
ties which are unknown in free society. 

Again: The productions of our climate differ in many respects 
from those of Europe, or even our own northern states; and conse- 
quently, while the great principles of agriculture are the same 
every where, our system is materially modified on this account, and 
our instructions should be in accordance with this modified system. 

We need, in the first place, a school of the highest order — one in 
which the young farmer may acquire as complete an education, 
suited to his wants as a professional man, as the lawyer and physi- 
cian do in theirs, respectively. If we are to advance in agriculture, 
we must put it upon the same ground, educationally, that the pro- 
fessions, or I may say, the other professions occupy. Our young 
men must be taught to feel that there is in agriculture as much to 
call forth all the energies of the mind, as in any other pursuit what- 
soever; and in educating them for it, the course of instruction 
should be so framed as to give the mind full expansion in that 
direction. 

• 

But while the farmer's education should be for a special object, 
and consequently take a special or professional turn, it should not 
be too technical. He is in a position to exert a commanding in- 
fluence, and owes certain duties to society, which can be better dis- 



59 

charged by his having a knowledge of many of the more important 
branches which constitute a part of the ordinary collegiate course. 
We may give young men the college course, to be followed by one 
purely professional, or we may so arrange a course of instruction 
for four years, as to include the special in the general one. By the 
latter arrangement, the student would master the principles of his 
profession, while he was also acquiring those branches which are 
deemed necessary to every educated man. In the existing state of 
public sentiment in our country, there can be no doubt that the 
latter plan is the one best calculated to insure the desired object. 
The benefits likely to result from the introduction of agricultural 
schools, must be more apparent to the great mass of our people, 
before parents will be willing to give their sons a complete colle- 
giate course, to be followed by an agricultural one. To secure the 
latter, the two must be combined, and this I propose shall be done 
by the organization of an agricultural department in this institution. 

Our young farmers should be so educated, that they may with 
efficiency and skill direct the labors of others, rather than for the 
performance of manual labor themselves. We want scientific far- 
mers — not mere laborers. We should aim to teach the principles 
upon which the plough is constructed — its various forms, uses, &c., 
rather than to make ploughmen. Not that I would entirely ignore 
practical instruction. On the contrary, I would make that a promi- 
nent feature. It is the very best means by which to illustrate im- 
portant principles, and fix them in the mind. The agricultural stu- 
dent should have opportunities for becoming familiar with all of 
the operations of the farm ; but it does not follow from that, that 
he should take any part in its actual labors. His office should be 
to observe, and receive instruction from those competent to give it, 
while the labors are going on, and not waste his time in the acqui- 
sition of a species of practical knowledge, that never could be of 
much service to him. 

Again — While the student is acquiring those principles which are 
to guide him in his pursuit, he should be thoroughly imbued with 
the necessity for system, order and good government on the farm ; 
to accomplish this, he should, in the efficient discipline of the 
school, have always before him an example at once of the necessity 
for, and the beneficial eflTects of good government. If he is edu- 



GO 

cated to habits of order and subordination, we have the surest 
guarantee that he will, in after life, fully appreciate their impor- 
tance, and be governed by their principles. 

We come now to consider the special branches which should 
claim our attention in the education of young men for professional 
agriculturists. Our first aim siiould be to educate them in such 
manner that, wiien in the pursuit of their profession, they may be 
fully alive to the importance of observing accurately the phenomena 
of nature; and that they should be capable of classifying the ob- 
served phenomena, referring them to the principles upon which they 
depend, and of so reasoning upon them as to turn them to practical 
account. This can only be done by thoroughly grounding agricul- 
tural students in the principles of all the sciences which investigate 
the phenomena of agriculture, and by which its processes are con- 
ducted. 

For example — the farmer meets with a great diversity of soils 
upon his farm, or he sees the soils of the region in wliich he lives 
are unlike those of another region. If he is familiar with the prin- 
ciples of chemistry and geology, he will not only know that these 
various soils had their origin in the rocks underlying them, but will 
be able to trace out the changes that have taken place in the rocks 
to produce them, and by simple observation may learn much, very 
much of their composition, physical condition, probable require- 
ments, &c. But if he is not familiar with the application of science 
to the explanation of agricultural phenomena, he may not know 
that the soil is formed from the rock which underlies it, or if his 
observation has taught him this important truth, it will be of no 
practical utility to him, for the reason that a knowledge of princi- 
ples is necessary to correct reasoning upon the subject. 

Again — By familiarity with the principles of science, the farmer 
will become an observer of, and turn to practical account, pheno- 
mena that might otherwise have entirely escaped his notice, even 
supposing him to be desirous of noting every thing worthy of at- 
tention. To use the example just cited, how many educated and 
enlightened farmers are there who have seen the rocks underlying 
their soils from their youth, without for once taking any account of 
the influence the former must have had in the formation of the lat- 



61 

ter, and simply because they know nothing of the application of 
geology to agriculture. 

While the student was acquiring the principles of science appli- 
cable to his profession, the numerous details of practical agriculture 
should not be overlooked. This branch of the subject I leave to be 
discussed in another place. I do not wish it to be understood that 
by practical instruction I mean that any young man could be a 
thoroughly scientific and practical farmer, on the receipt of his di- 
ploma from the agricultural school. To promise any such thing 
would be preposterous. I would expect the professional education 
to do for the farmer what the medical school does for the physician, 
the law school does for the lawyer, or our national military school 
does for our officers. 

The medical student is taught the principles of science upon 
which successful practice depends ; he is taught what is regarded 
by the profession as the proper way to treat disease in all its forms; 
he is allowed to accompany his professors in their visitations to the 
hospitals, &c., in all of which he receives a large amount of practi- 
cal instruction — and yet no one presumes him to be a finished me- 
dical practitioner when he receives his diploma. He has, however, 
such a foundation of scientific and practical knov^^ledge, that when 
aided by diligence, experience and judgment, he may take a high 
stand in his profession. So in the agricultural school — we should 
expect to give the student such a course of theoretical and practical 
instruction, that when he enters upon the practice of his profession, 
his education may be of great assistance to him, enabling him to 
conduct his farm operations with greater skill, and consequently 
with greater profit to himself, at the same time that he would be 
setting a useful example to others, provided he, with diligence, 
energy and judgment, makes use of the knowledge acquired in the 
school, and of that which he acquires in the practice of his profes- 
sion. His scientific and practical attainments can onl}'- be useful to 
himself and to others, if used aright. 

I proceed now to enumerate the subjects which it seems to me 
it is more specially important; to embrace in a complete course of 
agricultural instruction, without referring to those branches which 
belong in common to all liberal education. 



()2 

1st. Mathcmntics. — It needs no argument to show tlic necessity 
for as complete a course of" mathematics as is ordinarily taught in 
collegiate institutions. Besides the training of the mind to habits 
of correct reasoning, the student of scientific agriculture requires a 
knowledge of mathematics in the prosecution of his other studies; 
and in the practice of his profession will almost daily stand in need 
of more or less mathematical knowledge. 

Surveying, which is properly an application of mathematical 
principles, should be taught practically. The student should learn 
how to survey fields and farms accurately, &c. He should be able 
to use the level and the theodolite, and be familiar with leveling in 
all its details. 

2d. Natural Philosophi/. — This should embrace, 1st, a full course 
of mechanics; the laws of equilibrium, and motion of solids, the 
equilibrium and motion of fluids, &c. ; the available power of steam, 
water, wind, the horse, and man ; the application of principles to 
the various farm implements, machines, &c. should all be fully dis- 
cussed. 2d. A less extensive one on meteorology. Under this head 
the importance of regular observations of atmospheric phenomena 
to the agriculturist should be shown ; the instruments in use should 
be explained; the formation of clouds, rain, snow, dew, frost, &c. ; 
the local and general causes which affect climate, the fall of rains, 
&c. should also be discussed. 3d. The effects of heat, light and 
electricity, as mechanical agents, should also receive attention. 

3d. Chemistry. — So much has been said and written about the 
benefits to be conferred by chemistry upon agriculture, or by " agri- 
cultural" and analytical chemistry, that many persons have sup- 
posed, and not a few have taught that scientific agriculture was no- 
thing but an application of chemistry. That chemistry has con- 
ferred, and will continue to confer important and lasting benefits 
upon agriculture, there is no doubt; but no one who is familiar 
with its principles, and has a proper appreciation of the require- 
ments of scientific agriculture, could regard it in any other light, 
after all, than as one of a circle of sciences, all of which are neces- 
«ary to agriculture as a whole. 

The undue prominence which but a short while since was given 



63 

to chemistiy as the one science which could throw light upon the 
farmer's path, taken in connection with the fact that designing men 
have been systematically practicing upon the credulity of the pub- 
lic, and coupled witii the additional fact that there are agricultural 
phenomena which chemistry has yet failed to elucidate, has led 
many at the present time to deny the utility of chemistry alto- 
gether, or to place too low an estimate upon its value to the farmer. 
When we refiect that in nearly all the processes of improvement of 
the soil, such as manuring, &c. in the germination of the seed, the 
growth of the plant, the formation of fruit, and the after conversion 
of vegetable into animal matter, although influenced by heat and 
light, the changes are all chemical, no one it seems to me could 
doubt the propriety of, or the necessity for the scientific farmer 
being familiar with the principles of chemistry, and its applications 
to the explanation of the phenomena which come under his obser- 
vation. 

This course should be taught by recitations from some well di- 
gested text-book, with occasional lectures from the professor. A 
laboratory should be fitted up for manipulation, in which the stu- 
dents should be required, under the direction of the professor, to 
manipulate for themselves ; to prepare, study the properties, and 
test the various substances embraced in their course. Having had 
some experience in this method of teaching chemistry, I unhesitat- 
ingly recommend it over the old method of lectures and illustration 
by the professor. ^ 

But while I would thus render the chemical instruction practical^ 
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I have no desire to make 
it appear that by this method I w^ould expect to turn out "analyti- 
cal chemists." The time given to the study of chemistry in any 
institution in our country, is, with a very few exceptions, too short 
to admit of a complete course of instruction in this branch of 
chemistry. Such instruction is not at all necessary. The farmer 
has to deal with yrinciples. If, in the elucidation of these princi- 
ples, he has occasion to call in the aid of analysis, let him go to the 
professional chemist ; and if he is familiar with his subject, he can 
reason upon the results obtained by the chemist, as well as if he 
had obtained them for himself. 



C4 

4t]i. Mrncrnhgy oviJ Geology. — The first of these sciences gives 
us a knowledge of the composition and properties of the individual 
minerals which are found in the soil, and in the rocks which under- 
lie it, and if properly taught, the student will be enabled to re- 
organize all the more commonly occurring ones himself. The se- 
cond, treating of the formation and history of mineral masses, or 
aggregated minerals, the origin of soils, the component parts of the 
various formations, the changes to which they have been subjected, 
&c. opens up a wide field of useful enquiry to the farmer. 

These sciences, to be practically useful, should be taught practi- 
cally, as in the case of chemistry. In mineralogy there is no diffi- 
culty, as the student might be required to examine and test each 
mineral until familiar with it in all its varieties. In geology, too, 
much can be done in the lecture room, by making the student fa- 
miliar with the various rocks which compose the different forma- 
tions, by causing him to study the characters of characteristic fos- 
sils, &c. But in order to make the instruction really practical, the 
student should have opportunities for studying the geology of the 
country around the institution, and of visiting interesting and in- 
structive localities. 

5th. Nalural History — embracing botany and zoology. Under the 
head of botany, the course of instruction should include a complete 
outline of vegetable physiology, in which the offices performed by 
the roots, stem,--bark, leaves, &c. should all be fully explained, and 
one of systematic botany, including separate descriptions of the va- 
rious agricultural plants, and of the " bliglit," fungi, &c. which are 
hurtful to cultivated crops. 

The course of instruction in zoology should embrace a complete 
outline of animal physiology, the division of the animal kingdom 
into four great groups, the subdivisions of the vertebrated, with a 
more particular account of the mammalia, including particular de- 
scriptions of the domestic animak, as the horse, the cow, the sheep, 
&c. Under the head of invertebrated animals, the habits, transfor- 
mations, &c. of insects injurious to vegetation should be discussed, 
with the particular descriptions of those which more commonly 
prey upon the various crops of our country. 



65 

6th. Engineering and Architecture. — The first I would limit to 
the consideration of the various building materials, their relative 
strength, durability, value, &c. and the various processes of cutting 
and felling, making embankments, draining, the construction of 
common roads, farm bridges, &c. The course of architecture should 
embrace its principles, together with its application to the con- 
struction of the various buildings required upon the farm, from the 
mansion of the proprietor to the most unimportant structure. Eco- 
nomy, health, comfort and utility should be consulted in all cases. 
I would not expect the farmer, however, to take the place of the 
professional architect. On the contrary, the insight which he would 
get of the subject would be sufficient to show him the necessity for 
consulting the professional man in all important improvements. 

Rural architecture has not received the attention in our country 
that it deserves. Our people need to have their natural tastes edu- 
cated to a proper appreciation of its importance to a cultivated peo- 
ple ; and I can conceive of no better plan for effecting this, than by 
securing a general diffusion of correct principles in the way pro- 
posed. 

7th. Right-lined and Topogrophical Drawing. — This instruction 
becomes necessary in connection with surveying, engineering and 
architecture. 

8th. Medical and Veterinary Practice. — The application of science 
to the investigation of the causes of, and the means of cure of the 
diseases of domestic animals, is justly regarded as a necessary part 
of the education of the scientific farmer ; and we accordingly find 
that in the best agricultural schools provision is made for instruc- 
tion in veterinary medicine. A course of scientific agriculture would 
not be complete without it. The instruction in this subject should 
embrace the structure and anatomy of the domestic animals, their 
diseases, mode of treatment, &c. 

If such instruction is necessary to the educated farmer, in order 
that he may take proper care of the various animals on his farm, 
how much more necessary is it that the southern farmer should have 
some knowledge of the human frame, the prevailing diseases of the 
region of country in which he lives, and the ordinary modes of 
9 



66 

treating them. He not only has the health of his immediate family 
to look to, but that of all his servants. On a large farm there must 
always be more or less sickness ; and if no physician is on the 
place, there must be almost daily calls upon the master for medical 
advice. He must be something of a physician, in spite of himself. 

In the education of the farmer, I would provide for instruction 
in human physiology and anatomy; the symptoms, &c. by which 
he may know various diseases — how to treat them ; how the sick 
should be nursed, &c. 

I would have it understood, however, that in proposing such a 
course of instruction, I have no idea of making a physician of the 
farmer. I would simply expect to qualify him for the better per- 
formance of the various duties which a proper care for his own in- 
terests and a due regard for the welfare of his servants, impose 
upon him. He would be competent to the skillful treatment of all 
simple diseases — would know how the sick should be cared for, 
and would be sufficiently familiar with symptoms to know when he 
ought to call in the physician. 

9th. Science and Practice of Agriculture. — This course should em- 
brace, 1st, the history of agriculture; the general objects of agri- 
culture ; and the application of the sciences of chemistry, geology, 
botany, &c. to agriculture. Under this head, the origin, nature and 
composition of soils ; manures, their composition and value, sources 
of supply, application, &c. ; the characters of the various agricul- 
tural plants, kitchen vegetables, fruit and forest trees, &c. ; farm 
implements and machinery ; the general effects of heat, light and 
electricity on vegetable growth, &c. &c. should all be fully dis- 
cussed. 

The course of practical agriculture should embrace all farm ope- 
rations — such as ploughing, harrowing, seeding, draining, harvest- 
ing, irrigation, rotation of crops, &c. &c. ; the cultivation of the 
various crops ; the management of land in pasture and meadow, 
soiling, &c. ; the economy and management of slave labor; the dif- 
ferent kinds and characters of live stock ; principles of breeding, 
rearing, feeding and fattening of stock ; the dairy, milk, butter and 
cheese ; general principles to be observed in the erection of farm 



67 

buildings, &c. The whole to conclude with instruction in keeping 
farm accounts, the laws of enclosure, laws of tenure, and the laws 
relating to the owning and hiring of slaves. 

In order to give greater efficiency to the instruction in practical 
agriculture, a farm should be purchased, and provided with a dairy, 
necessary farm buildings, implements, machinery, &c. Horses, cat- 
tle, &c. should be reared upon it, and it should be systematically 
cultivated. 

A small portion of the farm, say a few acres, should be set aside 
for experimental purposes, to test new processes before applying 
them on a larger scale, or recommending them to the public. An- 
other portion should be set apart for a fruit and vegetable garden, 
where the student would have opportunities for the study of horti- 
culture, and where he could learn practically the various processes 
of grafting, budding, pruning, &c. ; and another for a botanical gar- 
den, so as to enable the professor to illustrate the botany of agricul- 
ture to the fullest extent. 

The students should have frequent opportunities for making them- 
selves acquainted with the various operations of husbandry, and of 
becoming practically acquainted with the uses of the different im- 
plements.. They should also in turn be put in charge of the different 
departments of the farm, such as the stables, reaping, threshing, &c. 

Finally — In order to enable the professors in all the departments 
to illustrate the numerous applications of science to agriculture, an 
agricultural museum should be attached to the institution, in which 
should be found models of all approved agricultural implements and 
machines, and every kind of agricultural product, such as the dif- 
ferent grains and grasses, every quality of tobacco, wool of every 
degree of fineness, models of fruit, vegetables, &c. &c., together 
with specimens of the various kinds of wood used for building, or- 
namental, and other purposes. 

With this communication I transmit copies of the courses of in- 
struction in the royal agricultural college of England, at Cirencester, 
and of the great school of Hohenheim in Prussia, from which it will 
be seen that the plan proposed agrees in its main features with that 



68 

adopted in these schools. As you, sir, have lately visited and criti- 
cally examined into the practical working of the Hohenheim scliool, 
I hope you will favor me, by transmitting to the board of visitors, 
with this report, some account of your observations, together with 
such suggestions as your visit to that school may have led you to 
believe would be valuable in this connection. 

It only remains for me to show how we may engraft this course 
of instruction upon the institute course, so that any cadet who may 
desire it can avail himself of its advantages. 

By reference to the course of instruction of the institute, as at 
present organized, it will be seen that provision is made for mathe- 
matics, natural philosophy, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, engi- 
neering, architecture and drawing ; and that the time given to each 
of these subjects is sufficient, and in some cases more than sufficient 
for all the requirements of the agricultural student. The only sub- 
jects, therefore, for which provision must be made, are natural his- 
tory, medical and veterinary p-actice, and scicntijic and practical agri- 
culture. 

The course of instruction of the institute is completed in four 
years, and is so arranged as to fill up the time completely, leaving 
no room for the introduction of new subjects. In order to obviate 
this difficulty, so as to secure ample time for the acquisition of the 
three branches mentioned above, I propose that at a given point 
in the course every cadet shall have the right of choosing whether 
he will take the agricultural course or the regular course. If he 
takes the former, his course from that time becomes modified ; cer- 
tain subjects, which to him as an agriculturist would be unimportant, 
should be omitted entirely, while others should be abridged or other- 
wise modified. 

Thus the course of natural philosophy embraces, besides the me- 
chanics, which is of great importance to the agricultural student, a 
full course of optics and astronomy. The whole of the optics 
might be omitted, as in no way necessary, while that of astronomy 
might be made more elementary. The instruction required in en- 
gineering would, as I have already shown, be very limited. The 
course of engineering, as now taught, is far more extensive than 



69 

would be required, while that of architecture would want conside- 
rable alteration, and some extension. A portion of time might be 
saved in the department of drawing, and in some others. After a 
careful consideration of the subject, I feel assured that ample time 
might be secured for the agricultural course in all its details. 

In order to provide full instruction for an agricultural class in the 
institute, it would be necessary to have at least one additional pro- 
fessor, a 'professor of agriculture, and to secure a farm in its imme- 
diate vicinity. To the professor of agriculture I would assign the 
departments of natural history, and scientific and practical agricul- 
ture, while the instruction in human physiology and anatomy, &c. 
and in veterinary medicine, might very well be entrusted to the 
surgeon of the institute. 

In order that the board of visitors may see at a glance what the 
entire agricultural course would be, if the above recommendations 
were adopted, I present it in tabular form, giving the studies of each 
year, and the time devoted to every subject. 

First Year. 

Mathematics, daily, the entire session. 
Geography, daily, from 1st September to 1st January. 
English grammar, daily, from 1st September to 1st January. 
French, daily, from 15th January to 1st July. 
Latin, every other day, from 15th January to 1st July — alternating 
with drawing. 

Second Year. 

Mathematics, daily, the entire session. 

French, the same. 

Latin, every other day — alternating with drawing. 

Third Year. 

Mathematics, daily, to 1st January. 

Natural philosophy, daily, from 15th January to 1st July. 



70 

Chemistry, daily, from 1st September to Ist January, and from 15th 
January to 1st July, every other day — alternating with minera- 
logy and natural history. 

Latin, daily. 

Fourth Year. 

Scientific and practical agriculture, daily, the entire session. 

Rhetoric, logic, English literature and constitutional law, daily," 
throughout the session. 

Geology, every other day, from 1st September to 1st January — al- 
ternating with engineering and architecture. 

Infantry and artillery tactics, every other day, from 15th January to 
1st July — alternating with human physiology, &c. and veterinary 
practice. t 

Moral philosophy. 

Thus it will be perceived that we have full time for the prosecu- 
tion of all those studies which I have mentioned as necessary to the 
professional education of the farmer, without encroaching upon the 
time heretofore given to English, French, Latin, Rhetoric, English 
Literature, Constitutional Law, &c. — all of which are as necessary to 
the general education of the farmer as that of any other professional 
man ; and by comparing this proposed course of instruction, and 
the time devoted to its acquisition, with that actually taught at 
Cirencester, or Hohenheim, it will be found to compare most favo- 
rably with either. 

I am, colonel, 

Very respectfully. 

Your most ob't serv't, 

WILLIAM GILHAM. 



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